Makoto Tamada

Makoto Tamada (玉田誠) (born November 4, 1976 in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, Japan) is a former Japanese professional motorcycle racer currently working as a rider instructor in Suzuka Racing School. He is one of the few riders to win races in both MotoGP and Superbike World Championship.

Early years

After a junior career in minibikes, he won a regional 250cc championship in 1994. He then spent 4 years in the main Japanese 250cc series, finishing 4th on a private bike in 1998. He entered the MFJ Superbike championship in 1999. He finished in the championship top 5 for the next 4 years, but came to international fame as a wild card in the Superbike World Championship round at Sugo, upsetting the regulars to win both races in 2001, and a further race in 2002.

MotoGP

This helped earn him a call up to MotoGP in 2003, for Pramac Honda. The first season was a learning year, peaking with a 3rd place at Rio and two front row starts, finishing 11th overall. He joined Sito Pons' Camel Honda a year later. 2004 was his strongest MotoGP season to date, with wins at Rio and Motegi and 6th overall. He was the only Honda rider to use Bridgestone tyres, which appear to suit his style.

The Konica Minolta Honda team was formed in late 2004 with him in mind, and he spent 2 years there using Michelin rubber. Unfortunately a broken wrist sustained early in the season prevented him from reaching the championship top 10, although he did finish 3rd at his home race. He was also short of top results in 2006. At the Sachsenring he ran 3rd early on, and was still in the top 6 when he went out wide to avoid Kenny Roberts, Jr. crashing, only to be hit by the American's riderless bike.

In 2007 he joined the Tech 3 Yamaha team in MotoGP using Dunlop tyres, alongside French rider Sylvain Guintoli.^[1] He was generally outpaced by his rookie team-mate and finished the season 18th.

Superbike World Championship

He was left with no options in MotoGP so for 2008 he turned his focus on the Superbike World Championship. Kawasaki expressed their desire to hire him, quoting: "Tamada has been a target for Kawasaki for some time and his signing consolidates the PSG-1 team and Kawasaki’s mutual commitment to gain success in the forthcoming season."

He joins the Italian factory supported Kawasaki team, PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse, where he will pilot the all-new 2008 Kawasaki ZX-10R along with Frenchman Regis Laconi who rode for them in both 2006 and 2007.^[2] For 2009 he remained a factory Kawasaki rider, as they switched their support to the English Paul Bird Motorsport team, alongside Australian Broc Parkes.

On October 6, 2009, Kawasaki announced that Tamada would not be offered a contract for 2010. His place will be taken by former MotoGP rider Chris Vermeulen.^[3]

2010

In 2010 Tamada returned to WSBK in a one-off outing for the Reitwagen BMW team at Portimao in Portugal. He retired from the first race and finished 19th in the second race.

2011

On July 31, 2011 Tamada competed in the Suzuka 8 Hour race for the Musashi RT Harc-Pro team. He rode alongside former 500cc racer Tadayuki Okada and Takumi Takahashi. The team eventually took third position in the race, roughly one and a half minutes after the winning team finished.

In late August it was announced that Tamada will race in the Nurburgring round of the 2011 World Superbike Championship for the Castrol Honda team. He will replace Spaniard Ruben Xaus who is sitting out the race due to a back injury.

2012

Tamada was appointed official trainer of the inaugural Asia Dream Cup season by Honda in 2012. The Asia Dream Cup races with Honda CBR250R. Two riders from each Asian country is selected. Tamada was appointed to train the young riders to one day become a World Championship rider.

In July, Tamada competed in the Suzuka 8 Hours with Honda Team Asia. Team mates were Malaysian rider, Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman and Japanese veteran, Chojun Kameya. They qualified 10th. Early mechanical problems forced them to a 25th finish.

2013

Honda and Tamada's agency, Speed of Japan both announced Tamada's full time ride in the Asia Road Racing Championship in the Supersports 600 class with MUSASHi Boon Siew Honda Racing, the factory team for Honda in the series. He is replacing in Ryuichi Kiyonari, who won the title in 2012 and has gone back to BSB in 2013.

Tamada, stating that it took him more time to get used to a 600cc machine at the beginning of the season, actually made it fast. He got his first podium finish at Race 2 of Round 1 in Sepang. He then got his first win at Race 1 at Round 3, and went on winning Race 2.

However, he suffered the later half of the season from injuries he got from a crash during the Suzuka 8 Hours practice. Fractures of the left clavicle and scapula, as well as fractures on the left ankle were found. Furthermore, a minor amputation of the left middle finger was found. This made Tamada pull out of the Suzuka 8 Hours race, as well as, Round 4 and 5 of the Asia Road Racing Championship.

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

Season	Class	Moto	Team	Number	Race	Win	Pod	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd	WCh
1998	250cc	Honda NSR250	Team Kotake	53	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC	–
2003	MotoGP	RC211V	Pramac Honda	6	16	0	1	0	0	87	11th	–
2004	MotoGP	RC211V	Camel Honda	6	16	2	3	3	2	150	6th	–
2005	MotoGP	RC211V	Konica Minolta Honda	6	14	0	1	0	0	91	11th	–
2006	MotoGP	RC211V	Konica Minolta Honda	6	17	0	0	0	0	96	12th	–
2007	MotoGP	Yamaha YZR-M1	Dunlop Yamaha Tech3	6	18	0	0	0	0	38	18th	–
Total					82	2	5	3	2	462		0

Races by year

(key)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pos	Pts
1998	250cc	Honda	JPN 16	MAL	SPA	ITA	FRA	MAD	NED	GBR	GER	CZE	IMO	CAT	AUS	ARG					NC	0
2003	MotoGP	Honda	JPN Ret	RSA 14	SPA 6	FRA Ret	ITA 4	CAT 7	NED 16	GBR 13	GER 13	CZE 9	POR 10	BRA 3	PAC DSQ	MAL 10	AUS 10	VAL 10			11th	87
2004	MotoGP	Honda	RSA 8	SPA Ret	FRA 9	ITA Ret	CAT Ret	NED 12	BRA 1	GER 6	GBR 14	CZE 4	POR 2	JPN 1	QAT 10	MAL 5	AUS 8	VAL 5			6th	150
2005	MotoGP	Honda	SPA 8	POR DNS	CHN	FRA	ITA 8	CAT Ret	NED 14	USA 7	GBR 7	GER 10	CZE 10	JPN 3	MAL 12	QAT Ret	AUS 8	TUR 9	VAL 9		11th	91
2006	MotoGP	Honda	SPA 10	QAT 14	TUR 10	CHN 6	FRA 7	ITA 9	CAT 7	NED 11	GBR 11	GER Ret	USA 11	CZE 13	MAL 14	AUS 10	JPN 10	POR 5	VAL 12		12th	96
2007	MotoGP	Yamaha	QAT 16	SPA 14	TUR 14	CHN Ret	FRA 9	ITA 15	CAT 12	GBR 15	NED 13	GER 13	USA 8	CZE 17	RSM 14	POR Ret	JPN 12	AUS 16	MAL 18	VAL 15	18th	38

Superbike World Championship

Year	Make	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		13		14		Pos	Pts
Year	Make	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	R1	R2	Pos	Pts
1999	Honda	RSA	RSA	AUS	AUS	GBR	GBR	SPA	SPA	ITA	ITA	GER	GER	SMR	SMR	USA	USA	EUR	EUR	AUT	AUT	NED	NED	GER	GER	JPN 10	JPN 10			38th	12
2000	Honda	RSA	RSA	AUS	AUS	JPN 7	JPN Ret	GBR	GBR	ITA	ITA	GER	GER	SMR	SMR	SPA	SPA	USA	USA	EUR	EUR	NED	NED	GER	GER	GBR	GBR			37th	9
2001	Honda	SPA	SPA	RSA	RSA	AUS	AUS	JPN 1	JPN 1	ITA	ITA	GBR	GBR	GER	GER	SMR	SMR	USA	USA	EUR	EUR	GER	GER	NED	NED	ITA	ITA			15th	50
2002	Honda	SPA	SPA	AUS	AUS	RSA	RSA	JPN 2	JPN 1	ITA	ITA	GBR	GBR	GER	GER	SMR	SMR	USA	USA	GBR	GBR	GER	GER	NED	NED	ITA	ITA			18th	45
2008	Kawasaki	QAT Ret	QAT 12	AUS Ret	AUS 14	SPA 9	SPA Ret	NED 8	NED 9	ITA Ret	ITA Ret	USA 19	USA 13	GER 9	GER 13	SMR Ret	SMR Ret	CZE 16	CZE 17	GBR 18	GBR 18	EUR Ret	EUR 16	ITA 20	ITA 19	FRA 18	FRA 18	POR 19	POR 24	20th	41
2009	Kawasaki	AUS 18	AUS 17	QAT DNS	QAT DNS	SPA 14	SPA Ret	NED 17	NED Ret	ITA DNS	ITA DNS	RSA	RSA	USA	USA	SMR	SMR	GBR	GBR	CZE 10	CZE Ret	GER DNS	GER DNS	ITA Ret	ITA DNS	FRA	FRA	POR 12	POR 16	27th	12
2010	BMW	AUS	AUS	POR Ret	POR 19	SPA	SPA	NED	NED	ITA	ITA	RSA	RSA	USA	USA	SMR	SMR	CZE	CZE	GBR	GBR	GER	GER	ITA	ITA	FRA	FRA			NC	0
2011	Honda	AUS	AUS	EUR	EUR	NED	NED	ITA	ITA	USA	USA	SMR	SMR	SPA	SPA	CZE	CZE	GBR	GBR	GER 17	GER Ret	ITA	ITA	FRA	FRA	POR	POR			NC	0

References

↑ Tamada to replace Checa at Tech3 bbc.co.uk
↑ Tamada to ride for Kawasaki in 2008 SBK Championship kawasaki-racingteam.eu
↑ "Vermeulen WSB Kawasaki switch confirmed". Insidebikes. Retrieved 6 October 2009.

External links

tamayangp.com Official website
speedofjapan.com Speed of Japan

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