Akira Yanagawa

Akira Yanagawa (柳川 明, Yanagawa Akira, born 15 July 1971) is a Japanese former professional motorcycle road racer. He won three World Superbike Championship races and finished on the podium on 20 further occasions.

Akira Yanagawa
NationalityJapanese
Born (1971-07-15) 15 July 1971
Kagoshima, Japan
Current teamTeam GREEN
Bike number87
Motorcycle racing career statistics
MotoGP World Championship
Active years2002–2003, 2007
ManufacturersKawasaki
2007 championship positionNC (0 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
4 0 0 0 0 0
Superbike World Championship
Active years1994, 1996–2002, 2010
ManufacturersKawasaki
2010 championship positionNC (0 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
121 3 23 2 6 1207

Career

He started racing on mini-bikes before becoming Japan's 250cc champion in 1989. He moved to his homeland's Superbike championship in 1993. By 1997 Kawasaki considered him ready for the Superbike World Championship.

Initial testing displays[1] and results suggested that they were not wrong. At the A1-Ring, Yanagawa became the first Japanese rider to win a Superbike World Championship race outside his homeland, also winning Sugo later in the year to come 4th overall. 1998 was dominated by two huge crashes. At Monza the bike hurtled through the gravel at the Ascari Chicane before catching fire due to a burst fuel line, with Yanagawa nowhere near it. At Laguna Seca he was running 2nd when Doug Chandler's wild card Kawasaki went out of control on the run into the Corkscrew corner and harpooned Yanagawa. It was a frightening moment, yet Yanagawa only missed one further round. He was classified 2nd in that race, as the restart was abandoned following another pile-up. On his return he took two 4th places, and followed this with two podium results at Sugo. This was good for 7th overall.

In 1999 and 2000 he came 5th overall, with a win at Sugo and five third places in 1999. He was 9th in 2001, crashing on lap 1 of his 100th WSBK race at Sugo but scoring two 3rds at Monza,[2] as Kawasaki gradually lost interest in the Superbike World Championship, focusing instead on developing a MotoGP bike for 2002.[3] Yanagawa raced in Japan's Superbike series while testing this, and briefly raced it before returning to a testing role.[4] He continued in the All-Japan series, leading it in 2007 before losing out to Atsushi Watanabe, and also entered for a one-off MotoGP round at Motegi in 2007.[5]

Career statistics

Races by year
Year Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pos. Pts
R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2
1994 Suzuki GBR GBR GER GER ITA ITA SPA SPA AUT AUT INA INA JPN
11		 JPN
18		 NED NED SMR SMR EUR EUR AUS AUS 47th 5
1996 Kawasaki SMR SMR GBR GBR GER GER ITA ITA CZE CZE USA USA EUR EUR INA INA JPN
Ret		 JPN
DNS		 NED NED SPA SPA AUS AUS NC 0
1997 Kawasaki AUS
4		 AUS
Ret		 SMR
Ret		 SMR
5		 GBR
DNS		 GBR
DNS		 GER
8		 GER
2		 ITA
8		 ITA
Ret		 USA
10		 USA
5		 EUR
5		 EUR
4		 AUT
2		 AUT
1		 NED
8		 NED
7		 SPA
4		 SPA
4		 JPN
1		 JPN
Ret		 INA
4		 INA
2		 4th 247
1998 Kawasaki AUS
5		 AUS
5		 GBR
5		 GBR
16		 ITA
Ret		 ITA
6		 SPA
13		 SPA
7		 GER
4		 GER
5		 SMR
5		 SMR
5		 RSA
6		 RSA
5		 USA
2		 USA
DNS		 EUR EUR AUT
4		 AUT
4		 NED
7		 NED
6		 JPN
4		 JPN
2		 7th 210
1999 Kawasaki RSA
6		 RSA
5		 AUS
5		 AUS
6		 GBR
5		 GBR
4		 SPA
2		 SPA
2		 ITA
7		 ITA
5		 GER
Ret		 GER
3		 SMR
3		 SMR
3		 USA
3		 USA
12		 EUR
6		 EUR
5		 AUT
DNS		 AUT
DNS		 NED
6		 NED
4		 GER
3		 GER
4		 JPN
3		 JPN
1		 5th 308
2000 Kawasaki RSA
DNS		 RSA
DNS		 AUS
9		 AUS
6		 JPN
Ret		 JPN
6		 GBR
7		 GBR
5		 ITA
3		 ITA
3		 GER
2		 GER
Ret		 SMR
5		 SMR
6		 SPA
10		 SPA
12		 USA
6		 USA
5		 EUR
9		 EUR
5		 NED
6		 NED
2		 GER
4		 GER
3		 GBR
6		 GBR
7		 5th 247
2001 Kawasaki SPA
8		 SPA
6		 RSA
5		 RSA
Ret		 AUS
4		 AUS
C		 JPN
Ret		 JPN
11		 ITA
3		 ITA
3		 GBR
14		 GBR
8		 GER
12		 GER
10		 SMR
5		 SMR
Ret		 USA
Ret		 USA
8		 EUR
10		 EUR
8		 GER
4		 GER
9		 NED
8		 NED
6		 ITA
DNS		 ITA
DNS		 9th 170
2002 Kawasaki SPA SPA AUS AUS RSA RSA JPN
6		 JPN
6		 ITA ITA GBR GBR GER GER SMR SMR USA USA GBR GBR GER GER NED NED ITA ITA 23rd 20
2010 Kawasaki AUS AUS POR POR SPA SPA NED NED ITA ITA RSA RSA USA USA SMR SMR CZE CZE GBR
19		 GBR
19		 GER GER ITA ITA FRA FRA NC 0

By season
Season Class Motorcycle Team Number Race Win Podium Pole FLap Pts Plcd
2002 MotoGP Kawasaki Kawasaki Racing Team 48 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2003 MotoGP Kawasaki Kawasaki Racing Team 48 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2007 MotoGP Kawasaki Kawasaki Racing Team 87 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
Total 4 0 0 0 0 0

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos. Pts
2002 MotoGP Kawasaki JPN RSA SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR BRA PAC
Ret		 MAL AUS VAL NC 0
2003 MotoGP Kawasaki JPN
18		 RSA SPA FRA ITA CAT
Ret		 NED GBR GER CZE POR BRA PAC MAL AUS VAL NC 0
2007 MotoGP Kawasaki QAT SPA CHN TUR FRA ITA CAT GBR NED GER USA CZE RSM POR JPN
Ret		 AUS MAL VAL NC 0

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 7 May 2006. Retrieved 17 October 2006.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Bayliss Doubles at Monza WSB". Archived from the original on 8 May 2006. Retrieved 17 October 2006.
  3. "Welcome Back, Kawasaki". Archived from the original on 10 November 2006. Retrieved 17 October 2006.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.