is a Japanese

motorcycle racer Motorcycle racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) is the motorcycle sport of racing motorcycles. Major varieties include motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Ot ...

.Yamaha team rider profile
Retrieved 13 April 2012. He races a factory

Yamaha YZF-R1 The Yamaha YZF-R1, or simply R1, is a -class sports motorcycle made by Yamaha. It was first released in 1998, undergoing significant updates in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2015, 2018

in the JSB1000 class of the

All Japan Road Race Championship The is the premiere motorcycle road racing championship in Japan. It is run by the Motorcycle Federation of Japan (MFJ) (日本モーターサイクルスポーツ協会) – the Japanese affiliate of the FIM. History The MFJ was formed in 1 ...

. He has won the Suzuka 8 Hours four times (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018) and the JSB1000 championship title ten times (2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021).

Career

A former competitor in the MFJ All Japan Road Race GP250 Championship between 1999 and 2005, Nakasuga moved into the All Japan Superbike Championship, winning the title in 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 for

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

. After losing the title to Honda's

Takumi Takahashi is a Japanese motorcycle racer. He competes in the British Superbike Championship on a factory-supported Honda Fireblade. Takahashi has raced in the All Japan Road Race Championship in the GP125 class, in the GP250 class, where he was champion ...

in 2017, he added an eighth and ninth title to his resume in 2018 and 2019. Nakasuga had his premier class Grand Prix start at the

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

circuit at the final race of the 2011 season as a replacement for the injured

Jorge Lorenzo Jorge Lorenzo Guerrero (; born 4 May 1987) is a Spanish former professional motorcycle racer. He is a five-time World Champion, with three MotoGP World Championships (, and ) and two 250cc World Championships ( and ). After winning the 2006 a ...

, finishing a creditable sixth place. In

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, he made a wild-card appearance for Yamaha at his home race at Motegi, finishing ninth, before making another appearance for the factory team at Valencia, this time in place of the injured

Ben Spies Ben Spies (; born July 11, 1984), is an American former professional motorcycle road racer. He was sometimes nicknamed "Elbows" due to his riding style, in which his elbows protruded outward. Spies won the AMA Superbike Championship for Yoshimur ...

. Taking advantage of a wet circuit and numerous retirements ahead of him, Nakasuga was able to finish a distant second behind race winner

Dani Pedrosa Daniel Pedrosa Ramal (born 29 September 1985) is a Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Grand Prix motorcycle racer who retired from regular competition after the season. He grew up in Castellar del Vallès, a village near Sabadell. He is a ...

, becoming the only Japanese rider to score a podium finish in any class during 2012. He won the Suzuka 8 Hours in 2015 with

Pol Espargaró Pol Espargaró Villà (born 10 June 1991) is a Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle racer who for 2023 will ride in the MotoGP class for the newly named GasGas Factory Racing team, a development of Tech3. He previously spent two years with Repsol Hond ...

and Bradley Smith, in 2016 with Espargaró and

Alex Lowes Alexander Thomas Lowes (born 14 September 1990) is an English motorcycle racer. He signed in October 2019 for the Kawasaki Racing Team in Superbike World Championship as team-mate to multi-world champion Jonathan Rea. He competed in World Su ...

and in 2017 and 2018 with Lowes and

Michael van der Mark Michael van der Mark (born 26 October 1992) is a motorcycle road racer based in the Netherlands. He competes in the Superbike World Championship with a BMW M1000RR. He was the 2012 European Superstock 600 champion. In 2013 and 2014 he won the ...

. Alongside his racing duties, he currently is the lead test rider for Yamaha in MotoGP.

Career statistics

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 (map ...

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

Suzuka 8 Hours results

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nakasuga, Katsuyuki 1981 births Sportspeople from Fukuoka Prefecture Japanese motorcycle racers Living people 250cc World Championship riders Yamaha Motor Racing MotoGP riders MotoGP World Championship riders