r/motogp

In person this thing is stunning to look at, and so compact. Unfortunately it wasn’t ridden at the event today but just to see it up close was pretty cool

This year’s Suzuka 8 Hours marked the final appearance at the legendary race for one of Japanese motorcycling’s all-time greats. Katsuyuki Nakasuga will retire at the end of this season after an incredible career.

A four-time Suzuka 8 Hours winner and a record 13-time Japanese Superbike champion, Nakasuga is still fighting for another title in Japan during his farewell season.

Most fans outside Japan will remember him for his MotoGP wildcard appearances at Japanese GP, but also his shocking second-place finish at Valencia in 2012, when he stepped in on the Yamaha as a replacement for the injured Ben Spies.

What a career. Arigato, Nakasuga-san.

1.Honda HRC (Rea, Takahashi, Chantra)
2.Yamaha Factory (Miller, Locatelli, Nakasuga)
3.BMW Factory (Reiterberger, Odendaal, van der Mark)

Source https://x.com/HondaJP_Live/status/2073754253378855094

This is a series written from Tetsuya Harada’s perspective on his battle with Daijiro Kato in 2001, planned in three parts. For the full text, please refer to the original article.

The 2001 250cc World Grand Prix season was expected to be a title battle between Tetsuya Harada, the 1993 World Champion, and Daijiro Kato, the 1997 All Japan Champion.

Kato had made his Grand Prix debut the previous year, in 2000. He took five victories, finished third in the standings, and claimed the rookie title in a striking introduction to the series.

Meanwhile, Harada was competing in the premier 500cc class with Aprilia. However, he struggled with an uncompetitive machine and was often unable to even finish races.

“I started talking to Dai-chan that year, when he came into the Grand Prix,” Harada recalls.

Harada was in 500cc and Kato in 250cc. Since they were not direct rivals on track, the atmosphere between them was still relaxed.

“In the paddock, it was just greetings like ‘How are you?’. I remember thinking he seemed kind of spaced out (laugh). But we were from slightly different generations, so maybe I was not that easy for him to talk to either.”

Harada was born in 1970 and Kato in 1976, making Harada six years older. He had known of Kato since he was a child.

“Dai-chan had been famous since he was little as an incredibly fast kid. He was so small that he could not even sit properly on an underbone bike. He would ride standing up, and even then he was unbelievably fast (laugh). That was the reputation he had.”

In the middle of the 2000 season, Harada decided he would return to the 250cc class the following year. The Aprilia 500cc machine was simply not competitive enough.

“It was pretty bad (laugh). I said, ‘There is no point racing like this,’ and decided to withdraw from 500cc. Because of my contract, I could not just move to another team and stay in 500.”

It meant stepping down from the premier class.

“Honestly, I would rather go back to 250 than keep riding that 500cc bike. My mind was made up pretty quickly.”

He raced to win. If he could not win, there was no point in racing.

That philosophy eventually led to the intense battles with Daijiro Kato in the 2001 season.

At that time, however, Harada was not yet particularly focused on Kato. He even thought, “In 250cc, the final race ends earlier than 500cc, so I can go home sooner.”

More than anything, Harada had his own major challenge: adapting to the 250cc machine.

“Right after the 2000 season ended, I started testing the 250, but the switch was not easy. In 500cc, you brake firmly, turn tightly, and accelerate hard. In 250cc, you have to maximize corner speed to the absolute limit.”

The Aprilia RS250 itself was a strong package, fitted with a latest-spec engine on a frame that Harada himself had helped develop and preferred.

Even so, he struggled to adapt to the extremely high cornering speeds required in the 250cc class.

“The period up to 2000 had been really rough, so my own form was down as well.”

On the other hand, Kato had won the rookie title and was rising rapidly. The Honda NSR250, with its strong acceleration, was also a formidable machine.

“This is a huge gap…”

Even before the opening tests of 2001, Harada already sensed that it would be a difficult season.

To be continued in Part 2.

The kid finally won a race.

Hope he has solved his inconsistency

Career

• At the age of five, he entered his first pocket bike race, honing his skills at Circuit Akigase while competing against future road racing stars such as Norick Abe.
• At eleven, he stepped up to minibike racing.
• 1993 Joined Team Koutake, whose riders included Akira Yanagawa and Tohru Ukawa as senior teammates, while Makoto Tamada was among his contemporaries.
• 1994 Contested the full season of the All Japan Road Race Championship GP250 class on an RS250R.
• 1995 Was provided with an NSR250 (previous-generation model). Won two races and finished fifth in the championship.
• 1996 Was provided with an NSR250, won four races, and finished runner-up in the championship. Made a wildcard appearance at the Japanese Grand Prix, finishing on the podium in third place.
• 1997 Moved from Team Koutake to Castrol Honda. Won the All Japan GP250 Championship. Entered the Japanese Grand Prix as a wildcard and took victory.
• 1998 Finished eighth in the All Japan GP250 Championship. Returned as a wildcard at the Japanese Grand Prix and won again.
• 1999 Finished second in the All Japan GP250 Championship. Placed fifth as a wildcard at the Japanese Grand Prix.
• 2000 Made his full-time World Championship debut in the 250cc class with AXO Honda Gresini. Won four races, earned Rookie of the Year honors, and finished third in the championship.
• 2001 Racing for Telefonica MoviStar Honda, he won eleven races, setting a new record for the most wins in a single 250cc World Championship season, and became World Champion.
• 2002 Moved up to the MotoGP class with Fortuna Honda Gresini, racing both the NSR500 and RC211V during the season. He was named Rookie of the Year and finished seventh in the championship.
• 2003 Telefonica MoviStar Honda. During the opening round of the season at the Japanese Grand Prix, he crashed and struck the left-side safety barrier before the chicane. He was airlifted to hospital unconscious and passed away on April 20 from a brainstem infarction.

A pocket bike race named the Daijiro Cup. Ai Ogura is also one of the riders who came through that race.

Below is a brief excerpt from the article. I've made a few minor edits to both the title and the body for clarity. Please refer to the original article for the full story.

At the 2004 Rio Grand Prix on 7/4, Tamada, riding the Camel Honda RC211V on Bridgestone tyres, delivered a dominant performance.

He started from seventh on the grid, but steadily closed the gap to the leaders and joined the front group by the middle of the race. With four laps remaining, he made his move, took the lead, and immediately pulled away from the chasing riders. Forty-four minutes and 21.976 seconds after the race began at 11:30 a.m. local time, Tamada crossed the finish line first after 24 laps to claim victory.

That day was the birthday of Daijiro Kato, Tamada's close friend and role model since their days together at Team Taketake.

>"I only started thinking about it after I took the lead. It's not that I was relying on him, but it felt as if Daijiro gave me a little push from behind. I couldn't have given him a better birthday present. It was the best."

Later that evening, when a reporter visited the team's office hoping to speak with him again, Tamada had already packed his suitcase and was preparing to leave. Instead of attending a victory celebration or party, he was heading straight to the airport to fly back to Japan.

At the time, Tamada's mother, Sakae, was bedridden with cancer. From her hospital bed, she watched her son standing on the top step of the podium on the other side of the world. A few days later, Sakae passed away with her son, now the fastest road racer in the world, by her side.

In this way, Tamada was able to give the greatest gift of all, through his own achievement, to both his late friend and his mother.

Source https://sportiva.shueisha.co.jp/clm/motorsports/motorsports/2020/10/15/motogp_11/?page=2

https://sportiva.shueisha.co.jp/clm/motorsports/motorsports/2020/10/15/motogp_11/?page=3