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Tohru Ukawa
(born May 18, 1973) is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer from Japan. Ukawa began his Grand Prix career in 1994, racing in the 250cc world championships. He finished second to Valentino Rossi in the 1999 World Championship. In 2002, he moved up to the MotoGP class, riding for the factory Repsol Honda Grand Prix team, finishing third overall behind teammate Rossi, with a win at Phakisa in South Africa. In 2003, he finished seventh overall for the Sito Pons Pramac team before returning to a factory testing role. Ukawa won five Grand Prix races during his career and is a five-time winner of the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race. Career Points system from 1993 onwards: Grand Prix motorcycle racing By season Races by year (key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1994 Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing Season
The 1994 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 46th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season. Season summary 1994 was the year in which Honda's Mick Doohan began to stamp his authority on the Grand Prix world. Honda's Longtime sponsor Rothmans left Honda to join Williams Renault in Formula One. Doohan won 9 races, the most since Giacomo Agostini won 11 in 1972. Kevin Schwantz was injured in a pre-season bicycle crash and raced in 6 races with his arm in plaster. Luca Cadalora took over from Wayne Rainey on the Yamaha and won two races. Aprilia began campaigning in the 500cc class with a 250 V twin motor enlarged to 380cc in hopes of using its lighter weight and nimble handling as an advantage. Max Biaggi would win his first world title for Aprilia in a tight 250 class battle against Loris Capirossi and Tadayuki Okada. Kazuto Sakata won the 125 crown for Aprilia. He was the first Japanese rider to race for a European factory. Honda secured the constructor's titl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phakisa Freeway
Phakisa Freeway is a motor racing circuit located between Welkom and Odendaalsrus, South Africa. It is one of the few oval speedways outside of the United States and the only one in Africa. History Phakisa Freeway was built on the same site as the former Goldfields Raceway, which closed in 1997. The current track opened in 1999. It consists of a road course and a oval course. The road course uses the oval's pit lane as its backstraight and crosses the oval's backstretch on two times. The oval track is similar to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in its 1997 configuration: 12 degree banking in the turns, nine degrees on the tri-oval and three degrees on the back stretch. It was built to attract American oval racing like NASCAR or IndyCar. Events From 1999 to 2004, the venue hosted the South African motorcycle Grand Prix of the MotoGP championship. The Superbike World Championship announced their intention to run at Phakisa Freeway from 2014 onwards. Due to homologation issues ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2000 Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing Season
The 2000 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 52nd F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season. Season summary Kenny Roberts, Jr. fulfilled the promise of his 2nd place in 1999 by winning the championship for 2000 with 2 races to spare. The season also saw the premier class-debut of Valentino Rossi, who began the year with crashes in the first two rounds and also had a third at Valencia; nonetheless, he came in second as a rookie in the class with 2 wins and 8 podiums. Garry McCoy achieved 3 wins with his spectacular 2-wheel sliding style, and his use of tires began a general transition to that size, though it had been used previously in 500 cc by Kevin Schwantz. It was the last time a Suzuki rider clinched the title until Joan Mir secured his maiden title in 2020 edition. Defending champion Àlex Crivillé had a disappointing season, bothered by an undetermined illness and a new NSR engine with a power curve that was difficult to manage. Said Jeremy Burgess: "In t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benetton Group
Benetton Group S.r.l. () is a global fashion brand based in Ponzano Veneto, Italy, founded in 1965. Benetton Group has a network of about 5,000 stores worldwide. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Benetton family's holding company Edizione. History In 1965, the Benettons opened their first store in Belluno and three years after in Paris. The company's core business consists of clothing brands United Colors of Benetton and Sisley. Benetton was an iconic brand in the 1980s and 1990s, but has since struggled to regain this position. In 2000, it ranked 75th in Interbrand's ranking of the best global brands; however, by 2002, it had dropped out of the list. In 2012, Benetton Group was delisted from the stock exchange and is now a fully owned subsidiary of the Benetton family company Edizione holding. In 2017, the group posted a loss of €180 million. Prompted by the heavy losses, Luciano Benetton, who was then 83 years old, returned from retirement as Executive Chairma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1998 Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing Season
The 1998 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 50th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season. Season summary Mick Doohan and Honda continued to dominate the 500 class with the Australian taking 8 victories and Honda winning all but one race. Simon Crafar winning the British Grand Prix for Yamaha's lone victory. After being shocked by 500 class rookie Max Biaggi's opening round victory in the Japanese Grand Prix, Doohan went on to claim his fifth world championship in as many years, finishing off the season with four consecutive wins. A controversial finish marked the 250 title race. Aprilia teammates Tetsuya Harada and Loris Capirossi both went into the final race in Argentina with a chance to win the title, Capirossi leading Harada by 4 points. With one corner to go, Harada was in second, with Capirossi third, which would have given Harada the championship on tiebreak. Entering the final turn, his bike was struck from behind by Capirossi's machine, sending both ri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1997 Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing Season
The 1997 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 49th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season. Season summary A fourth world championship in a row for Honda's Mick Doohan with another dominating performance. He broke Giacomo Agostini's record for victories in one season with 12 wins. It was also dominating year for Honda with eight of the top ten riders aboard Hondas. The Yamaha and Suzuki teams were in disarray. Kenny Roberts left Yamaha to start his own venture with a lightweight, three-cylinder Modenas. Wayne Rainey's team was left with the inconsistent Norifumi Abe and Sete Gibernau, a rookie. Daryl Beattie wasn't able to come back from head injuries and retired at the end of the year while Anthony Gobert failed a drug test and was dismissed by the Suzuki team. The Elf team soldiered on with their Swiss-Auto V4 but Aprilia decided to pull their V twin from the 500 class at the end of the year. Max Biaggi had a harder time defending his title from Tetsuya Harada ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1996 Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing Season
The 1996 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 48th Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, F.I.M. Road racing, Road Racing World Championship season. Season summary Honda, Honda's Michael Doohan, Mick Doohan continued his domination of the 500 class with 8 victories. His Repsol Honda teammate, Àlex Crivillé beat him to the line twice in Austria and the Czech Republic. Luca Cadalora, now with the Erv Kanemoto, Kanemoto Honda team took two wins for the fourth consecutive year. Suzuki, Suzuki's hopes were dashed when Daryl Beattie suffered head injuries in a pre-season crash. He returned only to crash in Spain then two races later in France which effectively ended his career. Loris Capirossi won his first 500 Grand Prix when Crivillé collided with his teammate, Doohan on the last lap of the Australian round. A new European team made its debut with the Elf team using a Swissauto V4 sidecar engine in an ROC chassis. It proved to be fast but unreliable. Honda introduced t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1995 Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing Season
The 1995 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 47th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season. Season summary Honda's Mick Doohan captured his second consecutive 500cc crown in 1995. Suzuki's Daryl Beattie had an early season points lead but crashed and injured himself in practice at Assen. Luca Cadalora again won two races for Yamaha but failed to show any consistency. Kevin Schwantz retired after the third race of the season with his numerous injuries finally taking their toll. Max Biaggi also won his second consecutive 250 championship for Aprilia with his eight victories second only to Mike Hailwood's 10 victories in 1966. Haruchika Aoki dominated the 125cc championship, winning the title for Honda with seven wins. 1995 Grand Prix season calendar The following Grands Prix were scheduled to take place in 1995: †† = Saturday race Calendar changes * The German Grand Prix moved from the Hockenheimring to the Nürburgring. * The Austrian Grand Prix was t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Honda Racing Corporation
Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) is a division of the Honda, Honda Motor Company formed in 1982. The company combines participation in Motorcycle racing, motorcycle races throughout the world with the development of racing machines. Its racing activities are an important source for the creation of technologies used in the development of Honda motorcycles. HRC activities include sales of production racing motorcycles, support for satellite teams, and rider education programs. History Initially, Honda's racing efforts were run from within the company. In the early 1970s, the Racing Service Center (RSC) was created as a separate company to oversee racing. On September 1, 1982, RSC became HRC, and ran Honda's Motorcycle racing, road racing, endurance, Motorcycle trials, trials and motocross racing programs. Research and development User support HRC has HRC Service Shops at 23 locations in Japan and seven sites overseas. Ownership HRC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Honda Motor Co. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Honda NSR250
The Honda NSR250 and Honda RS250RW were race motorcycles manufactured by Honda Racing Corporation to race in the 250cc class of the Grand Prix motorcycle World Championship. Both names identified the factory specification bikes entrusted to works teams, while customer teams used the ''production racer'' Honda RS250R. The first bike debuted in as Honda RS250RW, then from to the factory bikes were named NSR250. In the RS250RW name was resurrected until the demise of the 250 cc class. The 250 cc class world championship was won 11 times by riders riding the Honda RS250RW and NSR250: Freddie Spencer (1985), Anton Mang (1987), Sito Pons (1988, 1989), Luca Cadalora (1991, 1992), Max Biaggi (1997), Daijiro Kato (2001), Dani Pedrosa (2004, 2005) and Hiroshi Aoyama (2009). Honda also mass-produced a road legal Honda NSR250R. See also * Honda NSR250R The Honda NSR250R is a street-legal road-orientated 249cc two stroke sport bike produced by Honda, Honda Motor Co., Lt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pole Position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the race. The number-one qualifying driver is also referred to as the pole-sitter. The pole position, pole sitter, starts the race "at the front of the starting grid. This provides the driver in the pole position the privilege of starting ahead of all the other drivers" Grid position is typically determined by a qualifying session before the race, where race participants compete to ascend to the number 1 grid slot, the driver, pilot, or rider having recorded fastest qualification time awarded the advantage of the number 1 grid slot (i.e., the pole-position) ahead of all other vehicles for the start of the race. Historically, the fastest qualifier was not necessarily the designated ''pole-sitter''. Different sanctioning bodies in motor sport emp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suzuka 8 Hours
The is a motorcycle endurance race held at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan each year. The race runs for eight hours consecutively and entrants are composed of two or more riders who alternate during pitstops. History The race began in 1978 as a race for prototype Tourist Trophy Formula One (TT-F1) motorcycles which meant the big four Japanese companies (Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha), who had unlimited engineering resources, could use them on the track. Throughout the years, the race had gone through several rule changes in accordance to the FIM, including the restriction to 750cc for F1 bikes. One major change for the race came in 1993. Due to the high popularity of Superbike racing, which had been a support class in previous 8 Hours races, the race now centered on superbikes. The Formula One class, which at the time was the pinnacle of the race, would be removed altogether. Another category included in the race is the Naked class (for motorcycles without fairings - s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
