Osamu Miyazaki (born 23 January 1966) is a Japanese former professional

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

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 ...

road racer. He was the first full-time rider in the championship from Japan. After winning his first race in the All Japan Road Race Championship at age 26, Miyazaki joined

Aprilia Aprilia is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer founded immediately after World War II in Noale, Italy, by Alberto Beggio. The company started as a manufacturer of bicycles and moved on to manufacture scooters and small-capacity motorcycles. ...

and moved to Italy in 1996 to compete in the Grand Prix. After riding with Aprilla for three seasons, he raced with

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 ...

, and helped them with the development of the TZ 250 and YZF-R6. In 2002, he won the Japanese Grand Prix. He left the Grand Prix circuit in 2004 to race in the All Japan Road Race Championship, retiring after the 2011 season.

Motorcycling career

Miyazaki started racing when he was 23, when he entered the All Japan Road Race Championship riding 250 cc motorcycles, and won his first race in the championship three seasons later. At that time, he migrated to the

, initially competing in the 1991 Japanese race. He subsequently entered the race the following year, coming thirteenth overall. Following this success, he joined the Italian

team, which at the time was not well known in Japan. He achieved his first points in 1995. He moved to Italy to race in the Grand Prix professionally, the second Japanese rider at the Championships and the first Japanese contender to participate full-time. He achieved his first win at the

2002 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix The 2002 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix was the first round of the 2002 MotoGP Championship. It took place on the weekend of 5–7 April 2002 at Suzuka. The race was historic in that it was the first race of the MotoGP class, with engine capacit ...

at Suzuka while racing with Motorex Daytona Yamaha. He started at eighth place and finishing almost ten seconds ahead of the next competitor. He entered as a Japanese wildcard. In 2004, he moved to racing 600 cc motorcycles in the All Japan Road Race Championships. After four years, he had achieved second place at the end of the season. He started his own team in 2008 and took pole position the following year in the third round at Autopolis, but suffered a serious injury at the end of the season. He subsequently raced in 2010 and 2011, retiring shortly afterwards.

Legacy

Miyazaki was involved in the development of the

Yamaha TZ 250 The Yamaha TZ 250 was a commercially available racing motorcycle with a watercooled, two-stroke, 250 cc engine produced by the Japanese manufacturer Yamaha. The basis of the production-volume racer was the OW17 factory machine from Yamaha, ...

and Yamaha YZF-R6. He worked with Dunlop Tyres in tyre R&D in 2004 and coached Chinese competitors in 2009.

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

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)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miyazaki, Osamu 1966 births 250cc World Championship riders Japanese motorcycle racers Kawasaki Motors Racing MotoGP riders Living people People from Yamaguchi (city)