Moriwaki Engineering is a Japanese manufacturer of speciality high performance products and

motorcycle accessories Motorcycle accessories are features and accessories selected by a motorcycle owner to enhance safety, performance, or comfort, and may include anything from mobile electronics to sidecars and trailers. An accessory may be added at the factory by t ...

. __TOC__

Company founder

Mamoru Moriwaki is a Japanese

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

tuner, race team owner and founder of Moriwaki Engineering, a Japanese specialty engineering company that designs, manufactures and sells high performance parts for

s and cars. His motorcycle industry career is closely intertwined with that of

Pops Yoshimura Hideo "Pops" Yoshimura (October 7, 1922 – March 29, 1995) was a Japanese motorcycle tuner, race team owner, and manufacturer of speciality motorcycle accessories. He is remembered for his ties to the beginnings of Superbike racing and the Yoshim ...

, another respected motorcycle tuner. Moriwaki began his career as a

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. Oth ...

for Hideo "Pops" Yoshimura, a respected motorcycle mechanic and tuner involved in Japanese motorcycle racing. Moriwaki received no formal training in engineering while working for Yoshimura. Instead, he became self-taught, learning about mechanical engineering from books borrowed from his local high school. Moriwaki married Namiko Yoshimura, Pops’ eldest daughter, while he was working for the company. While working for the Yoshimura racing team, Moriwaki also successfully competed in

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

, driving a Yoshimura-prepared

Honda S800 The S800 is a sports car from Honda. Introduced at the 1965 Tokyo Motor Show, the S800 replaced the successful Honda S600 as the company's image car. With a redline of 9,500 rpm, it is one of the highest-revving sports cars produced for street us ...

sports car to a class victory at the

6 Hours of Fuji The 6 Hours of Fuji (formerly the Fuji 1000 Kilometres) is a sports car race held at Fuji Speedway in Oyama, Shizuoka, Japan. The race was held for the first time in 1967, and in 1977 became part of the new Fuji Long Distance Series. In 1982 a sec ...

endurance race on July 26, 1970, and the GTS1 Class at the 1971 Japan Grand Prix. In 1971, Yoshimura made the decision to move his company to the United States to take advantage of the burgeoning American motorcycle market. Moriwaki did not agree with Yoshimura and refused to leave his home in Japan. This created a rift between the two men; however, within a year Yoshimura had returned to Japan and sought Moriwaki for help after he had been cheated out of all his money in a business transaction in America. Moriwaki loaned Yoshimura money to re-establish himself. Yoshimura would go on to establish one of the premier manufacturers of motorcycle high performance parts in the United States and became closely associated with the Suzuki racing program. Moriwaki Monster

Moriwaki remained in Japan and in 1973 he founded Moriwaki Engineering in Suzuka City, Japan. He became known for modifying engines and constructing frames for the

Kawasaki Z1 The Kawasaki Z1 is a four-cylinder, air-cooled, double-overhead camshaft, carbureted, chain-drive motorcycle introduced in 1972 by Kawasaki. Following the introduction of Honda's CB750 in 1968, the Z1 helped popularize the in-line, across-the ...

. His bikes were successfully raced in the Australian

Superbike A sport bike (sports motorcycle, or sports bike) is a motorcycle designed and optimized for speed, acceleration, braking, and cornering on asphalt concrete race tracks and roads. They are mainly designed for performance at the expense of comfor ...

championships in the late 1970s by New Zealander

Graeme Crosby Graeme Crosby (born 4 July 1955) is a former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer from New Zealand. A versatile rider, Crosby was equally capable on either four stroke Superbike racers or two stroke Grand Prix racers. He is the only p ...

. Crosby and co-rider Tony Hatton finished in third place at the prestigious Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race in 1978. Moriwaki's reputation continued to be enhanced when Crosby and Akitaka Tomie qualified a Moriwaki Kawasaki on pole position at the 1979 Suzuka 8 Hours, ahead of all the major factory racing teams. At the 1980 Suzuka 8 Hours race, the Moriwaki team of Dave Aldana and David Emde qualified in a respectable second place ahead of the official Kawasaki

factory-backed In motorsports, a factory-backed racing team or driver is one sponsored by a vehicle manufacturer in official competitions. As motorsport competition is an expensive endeavor, some degree of factory support is desired and often necessary for s ...

team of

Eddie Lawson Eddie Lawson (born March 11, 1958) is an American former four-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion. His record of not crashing and consistently finishing in the points earned him the nickname "Steady Eddie".Gregg Hansford Gregory John "Gregg" Hansford (8 April 1952 – 5 March 1995) was an Australian professional motorcycle and touring car racer. He competed in the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from 1978 to 1981 and in Australian to ...

. After Crosby went on to race in the

world championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, Moriwaki hired Australian rider

Wayne Gardner Wayne Michael Gardner (born 11 October 1959) is an Australian former professional Grand Prix motorcycle and touring car racer. His most notable achievement was winning the 1987 500 cc Motorcycle World Championship, becoming the first Aus ...

in 1981. Also in 1981, Moriwaki developed the world’s first aluminum frame for large capacity motorcycles and entered them in competitions. Gardner and John Pace qualified their Moriwaki Kawasaki on pole position at the 1981 Suzuka 8 Hours, once again beating all the major factory racing teams. Gardner then rode the Moriwaki Kawasaki to an impressive fourth place finish at the 1981 Daytona Superbike race behind Yoshimura Suzuki riders Crosby, Wes Cooley and Honda's

Freddie Spencer Frederick Burdette Spencer (born December 20, 1961), sometimes known by the nickname Fast Freddie, is an American former world champion motorcycle racer. Spencer is regarded as one of the greatest motorcycle racers of the early 1980s. Motorcycle ...

. Moriwaki and Gardner proceeded to compete in the British championship, winning their first race in England. Gardner entered the final race of the season with a chance to win the title but, an engine misfire relegated him to third place overall in the championship. Gardner's impressive results on the Moriwaki Kawasaki eventually earned him a contract with the

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

factory racing team and an eventual

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

In the 1980s, Moriwaki became closely associated with

Honda Racing Corporation Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) is a division of the Honda Motor Company formed in 1982. The company combines participation in motorcycle races throughout the world with the development of racing machines. Its racing activities are an important ...

, the racing division for the Honda parent company. Moriwaki was the first outside firm allowed to use one of Honda's racing engines. From 2003 to 2005, Moriwaki competed in the premier MotoGP class with a

Honda RC211V The Honda RC211V is a 990 cc (60 cu in) four-stroke race motorcycle from HRC ( Honda Racing Corporation) developed in 2001 to replace the two-stroke Honda NSR500. It was developed as a direct result of major changes to the regulations for the Wor ...

engine in a Moriwaki designed frame. The firm gained valuable knowledge from this experience and in 2010, a Moriwaki-framed machine run by

Gresini Racing Gresini Racing is a motorcycle racing team competing in the MotoGP World Championship under the name Gresini Racing MotoGP as a Ducati satellite team, in the Moto2 World Championship as Team Gresini Moto2, and the MotoE World Cup as Felo Gresin ...

took the inaugural

Moto2 Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start of ...

title with rider Toni Elias. On the ''MD600'', Elias won 7 races with the bike and secured the championship with a fourth place at the

Malaysian Grand Prix The Malaysian Grand Prix (officially the Malaysia Grand Prix from 1963–1965 and 2011–2017 and Malayan Grand Prix in 1962) was an annual auto race held in Malaysia. It was part of the Formula One World Championship from 1999 to 2017 and it ...

, held at Sepang. The Moto2 formula is based on a universal engine and engine-ancillary equipment specification, with identical controlled engines supplied to teams via the organisers, previously based on the

Honda CBR600RR The Honda CBR600RR is a sport bike made by Honda since 2003, part of the CBR series. The CBR600RR was marketed as Honda's top-of-the-line middleweight sport bike, succeeding the 2002 Supersport World Champion 2001–2006 CBR600F4i, which was t ...

superseded by the Triumph Street Triple RS 765 from the 2019 season. Fuel, oil brakes and tyres are also controlled. Teams are able to use any supplier of chassis, suspension and bodywork under strict regulations to enable no one team to dominate by technology or expenditure.

Midori Moriwaki and World Superbikes

In late 2018 at EICMA, it was announced that Moriwaki would join with

to run the

Honda Fireblade The Honda Fireblade is a family of sport motorcycles manufactured by Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has bee ...

World Superbikes Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette-class road racing series based on heavily modified production motorcycles, also known as superbike racing. The championship was founded i ...

during 2019 with riders

Leon Camier Leon Stuart Camier (born 4 August 1986) is an English former solo motorcycle racer. For the 2021 season, Camier was announced as team manager for Honda World Superbike team, run under Honda Racing Corporation. After a long career in solo mot ...

and

Ryuichi Kiyonari (born September 23, 1982 in Saitama, Japan) is a professional motorcycle road racer. He previously rode a Honda CBR1000RR in the MFJ All-Japan Road Race JSB1000 Championship. He was the 2006, 2007 and 2010 British Superbike champion an ...

. Initially using Japanese Superbike race series specification as a base-setting, the team collaborates with Europe-based

Althea Racing Althea Racing is a motorcycle racing team based in Civita Castellana, Italy. For 2019, two versions of the team operate within the World Superbike Championship, as Moriwaki Althea Honda Team having two riders in conjunction with HRC,

. Previously Honda's alliance was with

Ten Kate Racing Ten Kate Racing is a motorcycle racing team competing in World Supersport with 2022 rider Dominique Aegerter. They previously competed in the Superbike World Championship with 2019 rider Loris Baz, and previously with Gulf Althea Racing BMW Moto ...

, but due to poor results Honda decided on full-factory backing with long-term partner in Japan motorsport Moriwaki Racing. Fast Talk – Midori Moriwaki
''Australian Motorcycle News'', 2 February 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2019 Previously Midori Moriwaki was Team Manager for KYB Moriwaki Motul Racing in

Endurance Endurance (also related to sufferance, resilience, constitution, fortitude, and hardiness) is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from an ...

events.KYB Moriwaki Motul Racing ends the 2018 Suzuka 8 Hours Race in 8th overall
Moriwaki Engineering, 29 July 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2019

Results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) {, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%" , - !valign="middle" rowspan=2, Year !valign="middle" rowspan=2, Bike !valign="middle" rowspan=2, Team !valign="middle" rowspan=2, Tyres !valign="middle" rowspan=2, No. !valign="middle" rowspan=2, Riders !colspan=3, 1 !colspan=3, 2 !colspan=3, 3 !colspan=3, 4 !colspan=3, 5 !colspan=3, 6 !colspan=3, 7 !colspan=3, 8 !colspan=3, 9 !colspan=3, 10 !colspan=3, 11 !colspan=3, 12 !colspan=3, 13 ! valign="middle" rowspan=2, Points ! valign="middle" rowspan=2, ! valign="middle" rowspan=2, Points ! valign="middle" rowspan=2, , - ! R1 ! SR ! R2 ! R1 ! SR ! R2 ! R1 ! SR ! R2 ! R1 ! SR ! R2 ! R1 ! SR ! R2 ! R1 ! SR ! R2 ! R1 ! SR ! R2 ! R1 ! SR ! R2 ! R1 ! SR ! R2 ! R1 ! SR ! R2 ! R1 ! SR ! R2 ! R1 ! SR ! R2 ! R1 ! SR ! R2 , - !rowspan="3",

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

!rowspan="3",

Honda CBR1000RR The Honda CBR1000RR, marketed in some countries as the "Fireblade" (capitalized as FireBlade until the 2000s), is a liquid-cooled inline four-cylinder superbike, introduced by Honda in 2004 as the 7th generation of the CBR series of motorcycles ...

-R , rowspan="3", MIE Racing Honda Team , rowspan="3", , 27 , align="left", Maximilian Scheid , style="background:#;", SPA
, style="background:#;", SPA
, style="background:#;", SPA
, style="background:#;", NED
, style="background:#;", NED
, style="background:#;", NED
, style="background:#;", POR
, style="background:#;", POR
, style="background:#;", POR
, style="background:#;", ITA
, style="background:#;", ITA
, style="background:#;", ITA
, style="background:#;", GBR
, style="background:#;", GBR
, style="background:#;", GBR
, style="background:#;", CZE
, style="background:#;", CZE
, style="background:#;", CZE
, style="background:#;", FRA
, style="background:#;", FRA
, style="background:#;", FRA
, style="background:#;", SPA
, style="background:#;", SPA
, style="background:#;", SPA
, style="background:#;", POR
, style="background:#;", POR
, style="background:#;", POR
, style="background:#cfcfff;", ARG
, style="background:#cfcfff;", ARG
, style="background:#cfcfff;", ARG
, style="background:#;", INA
, style="background:#;", INA
, style="background:#;", INA
, style="background:#;", AUS
, style="background:#;", AUS
, style="background:#;", AUS
, , , ! NC ! 0 !rowspan="3" style="background:#;", 258 !rowspan="3" style="background:#f;", 5th , - , 35 , align="left",

Hafizh Syahrin Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah (born 5 May 1994) is a Malaysian motorcycle racer, set to race in WorldSBK in 2022 With MIE Honda. In 2018, he became the first ever Southeast Asian to race in the MotoGP category. Career Early career Hafizh was born ...

, style="background:#cfcfff;", SPA
, style="background:#cfcfff;", SPA
, style="background:#cfcfff;", SPA
, style="background:#cfcfff;", NED
, style="background:#cfcfff;", NED
, style="background:#cfcfff;", NED
, style="background:#cfcfff;", POR
, style="background:#cfcfff;", POR
, style="background:#cfcfff;", POR
, style="background:#cfcfff;", ITA
, style="background:#cfcfff;", ITA
, style="background:#efcfff;", ITA
, style="background:#cfcfff;", GBR
, style="background:#cfcfff;", GBR
, style="background:#cfcfff;", GBR
, style="background:#efcfff;", CZE
, style="background:#cfcfff;", CZE
, style="background:#dfffdf;", CZE
, style="background:#cfcfff;", FRA
, style="background:#cfcfff;", FRA
, style="background:#cfcfff;", FRA
, style="background:#ffffff;", SPA
, style="background:#ffffff;", SPA
, style="background:#ffffff;", SPA
, style="background:#efcfff;", POR
, style="background:#cfcfff;", POR
, style="background:#cfcfff;", POR
, style="background:#;", ARG
, style="background:#;", ARG
, style="background:#;", ARG
, style="background:#dfffdf;", INA
, style="background:#cfcfff;", INA
, style="background:#dfffdf;", INA
, style="background:#dfffdf;", AUS
, style="background:#cfcfff;", AUS
, style="background:#cfcfff;", AUS
, , , ! 23rd ! 10 , - , 36 , align="left", Leandro Mercado , style="background:#cfcfff;", SPA
, style="background:#cfcfff;", SPA
, style="background:#cfcfff;", SPA
, style="background:#cfcfff;", NED
, style="background:#cfcfff;", NED
, style="background:#dfffdf;", NED
, style="background:#efcfff;", POR
, style="background:#cfcfff;", POR
, style="background:#cfcfff;", POR
, style="background:#cfcfff;", ITA
, style="background:#cfcfff;", ITA
, style="background:#cfcfff;", ITA
, style="background:#efcfff;", GBR
, style="background:#cfcfff;", GBR
, style="background:#cfcfff;", GBR
, style="background:#cfcfff;", CZE
, style="background:#cfcfff;", CZE
, style="background:#dfffdf;", CZE
, style="background:#cfcfff;", FRA
, style="background:#cfcfff;", FRA
, style="background:#efcfff;", FRA
, style="background:#cfcfff;", SPA
, style="background:#cfcfff;", SPA
, style="background:#cfcfff;", SPA
, style="background:#cfcfff;", POR
, style="background:#cfcfff;", POR
, style="background:#cfcfff;", POR
, style="background:#efcfff;", ARG
, style="background:#cfcfff;", ARG
, style="background:#cfcfff;", ARG
, style="background:#efcfff;", INA
, style="background:#cfcfff;", INA
, style="background:#cfcfff;", INA
, style="background:#cfcfff;", AUS
, style="background:#cfcfff;", AUS
, style="background:#dfffdf;", AUS
{{small, 15 , , , ! 29th ! 3 ^* Season still in progress.

References

External links

Moriwaki Engineering
Japanese companies established in 1973 Automotive companies of Japan