(born September 23, 1982 in Saitama,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

) is a professional

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 previously rode a

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 motorcycle ...

in the MFJ All-Japan Road Race JSB1000 Championship. He was the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

British Superbike champion and enjoys fame and popularity amongst British motorcycle race fans due to his success and personality. He raced for Honda Asia in 2012. He won the 2008 Suzuka 8-Hour race, teamed with his former WSBK teammate

Carlos Checa Carlos Checa Carrera (born 15 October 1972) is a Spanish former professional motorcycle road racer and winner of the 2011 Superbike World Championship. After racing in 500 cc and MotoGP for over a decade, mostly on Honda and Yamaha machiner ...

Early years

Kiyonari first raced in 1988 in

motocross Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom. History Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competi ...

, which he later stated that he did not especially enjoy. He began circuit racing in 1996, and first raced in the All-Japan 125cc Championship in 1998. He continued in this class until 1999 and spent the 2000 and 2001 season in the All-Japan 250cc Championship, with a shortage of big results, other than 9th place in the 2000

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. In 2002 Kiyonari switched to the All-Japan ST600 championship, which he won with four victories. He also took an All-Japan Superbike Championship victory at TI Aida.

MotoGP

Kiyonari moved to

MotoGP 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 ...

in early

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

Fausto Gresini Fausto Gresini (23 January 1961 – 23 February 2021) was an Italian Grand Prix motorcycle racer, who was World Champion in 1985 and 1987. He was in his later years team manager for the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini MotoGP team. Motorcycle racin ...

Telefónica Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...

Movistar Movistar () is a major telecommunications provider owned by Telefónica, operating in Spain and Hispanic American countries. It is the largest provider of landline, broadband, mobile services, and pay television (Movistar+) in Spain. Movistar is ...

team. There were eight minor points finishes, leaving him 20th overall with a best of 11th.

By season

British Superbike Championship

After coming 6th overall in the

British Superbike Championship The British Superbike Championship (BSB), currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, is the leading road racing superbike championship in the United Kingdom, and was once widely acknowledged as the p ...

in 2004, Kiyonari won the first four races of 2005, before injuring his ankle in a heavy crash in round 5. He was back for round 9, and retook the championship lead from teammate

Michael Rutter Sir Michael Llewellyn Rutter CBE FRS FRCP FRCPsych FMedSci (15 August 1933 – 23 October 2021) was the first person to be appointed professor of child psychiatry in the United Kingdom. He has been described as the "father of child psychol ...

, but eventually was overhauled by the improving

Ducati Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. () is the motorcycle-manufacturing division of Italian company Ducati, headquartered in Bologna, Italy. The company is directly owned by Italian automotive manufacturer Lamborghini, whose German parent company is Au ...

of Lavilla and he finished the season runner up. Kiyonari also raced in the Valencia Grand Prix for

Sito Pons Alfonso Pons Ezquerra (Barcelona 9 November 1959), better known as Sito Pons, is a Spanish former professional Grand Prix motorcycle racer. He competed in the FIM motorcycle Grand Prix world championships from 1981 to 1991. Pons is notable for ...

Camel A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...

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 product ...

team, finishing in the points. In

, A double victory at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

in the penultimate round kept Kiyonari in close contention for the title. However, in the double point final round at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently host ...

, after a win in race one (he was leading when Shane Byrne's heavy crash caused a stoppage. Kiyonari only needed to finish third in the final race. Kiyonari finished 2nd in the shortened race behind Haslam, thus winning the championship by 8 points. Ryuichi Kiyonari 2007

The 2007 season started at Brands Hatch, with

Jonathan Rea Jonathan Rea (born 2 February 1987) is a Northern Irish professional motorcycle racer. He competes in the Superbike World Championship and is a six-time champion in the series. He is the first to have won the Superbike World Championship six t ...

and

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 ...

performing better on their Hondas. However, Kiyonari took a double win in round three, and a further win in race 2 at

Oulton Park Oulton Park is a hard surfaced track used for motor racing, close to the village of Little Budworth, Cheshire, England. It is about from Winsford, from Chester city centre, from Northwich and from Warrington, with a nearby rail connection a ...

, to lie second to Lavilla after four rounds. Finally, Kiyonari defended his British champion at

to win the championship for the second time in succession.

Superbike World Championship

In Kiyonari made his

Superbike World Championship 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 ...

debut, having reached an agreement with

Ten Kate Ten Kate is a Dutch toponymic surname originally meaning "at the house". The modern Dutch word ''kot'' ("kennel") still reminds of the archaic words ''kate'', ''kote'', and ''kotte'' for "house".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 product ...

, to partner

and

Kenan Sofuoğlu Kenan Sofuoğlu (born 25 August 1984 in Kuzuluk, Akyazı) is a Turkish parliamentarian and former professional motorcycle racer. He holds a record five Supersport World Championship titles (2007, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016). Sofuoğlu also compet ...

. In the second race at Monza, Kiyonari nearly had his first SBK win. Kiyonari was in front as they braked for the final entry into the Parabolica but went wide on the exit and

Noriyuki Haga is a Japanese former professional Motorcycle sport, motorcycle racer. He won 43 world championship superbike races during a 25 year racing career, making him one of the most accomplished competitors never to have won a Superbike World Championsh ...

and

Max Neukirchner Max Neukirchner (born 20 April 1983 in Stollberg, East Germany) is a professional motorcycle racer currently competing in the Endurance FIM World Championship aboard a Yamaha YZF-R1. Career Supersport & Superbike World Championship In he compet ...

edged him out - Haga for the win and Neukirchner claiming second by a gap of just .009. Kiyonari finished third with a gap of .051, his first Superbike podium. Kiyonari's first two wins came at Brands Hatch, beating

Troy Bayliss Troy Bayliss (born 30 March 1969 in Taree, New South Wales, Australia) is an Australian motorcycle racer. During his career Bayliss won the Superbike World Championship three times and a MotoGP race, all with Ducati. He finished his career aft ...

in race 1 and

in race 2. He briefly led the very next race at

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned b ...

, but fell on lap 2. However, he did win the second race in very wet conditions, visibly sliding the rear end of his bike on many occasions. Kiyonari broke his

collarbone The clavicle, or collarbone, is a slender, S-shaped long bone approximately 6 inches (15 cm) long that serves as a strut between the shoulder blade and the sternum (breastbone). There are two clavicles, one on the left and one on the right ...

in a testing crash at

Magny Cours Magny-Cours () is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France. It is the home of the ''Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours'', a famous motor racing circuit (whose name is often abbreviated to 'Magny-Cours'). It formerly hosted the Formula O ...

, two weeks prior to the event, missing the race. For 2009, Kiyonari stayed with the Ten Kate Honda team, partnering Carlos Checa and Jonathan Rea. His bike was backed by Honda Europe rather than Hannspree. He finished 11th in the championship standings.

Return to British Superbikes

In September 2009, Kiyonari returned to British Superbikes to make a wildcard appearance at

Croft Circuit Croft Circuit is a motor racing circuit located near Dalton-on-Tees in North Yorkshire, England. The tarmac circuit is long and is based on the lands of an airfield, but has long since moved on from being a basic airfield circuit. The circui ...

, replacing the injured Glen Richards. He finished fourth in race one before finishing race two in 18th position. In December 2009, Kiyonari was confirmed as one of HM Plant Honda's riders for the

2010 British Superbike Championship season The 2010 British Superbike season was the 23rd British Superbike Championship season. The season commenced on 5 April at Brands Hatch and ended on 10 October at Oulton Park after 26 races at twelve meetings held in England and Scotland. Due to th ...

, partnering Australian rider

Josh Brookes Joshua Brookes (born 28 April 1983 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) is a professional motorcycle road racing, road racer with experience of Superbike and Supersport racing, both domestically and internationally. In 2020, he raced in the ...

. At Cadwell Park he won race one but retired from race two before it began, due to a technical problem on the warm-up lap. He scored a double win at

Mallory Park Mallory Park is a motor racing circuit situated in the village of Kirkby Mallory, just off the A47, between Leicester and Hinckley, in central England. Originally used for grass-track until 1955, a new, basically oval hard-surfaced course ...

, lifting him to fourth overall in the standings. 2011 saw Kiyonari stay with HM Plant Honda in the

, alongside two time BSB Champion Shane Byrne. He finished 6th overall.

FIM Asia Road Racing Championship

For the 2012 season, Kiyonari headed to Asia, leading Malaysian team Boon Siew Honda Malaysia Racing as they aspire to lift the FIM Asian SuperSports 600cc trophy. He went on to win the 2012 Asia Road Racing Championship title.

Return again to the British Superbike Championship

In 2013 Kiyonari returned to the BSB, racing with Samsung Honda. He finished 6th overall. In December 2013, Speed of Japan announced that Kiyonari would be racing with Buildbase BMW in the BSB in 2014. . Kiyonari's move to BMW was his first ever race with a manufacturer other than Honda, followed in 2016 by a switch to

Suzuki is a Japan, Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, All-terrain vehicle, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs ...

FIM World Endurance Championship Suzuka 8 Hours

Kiyonari has four wins at the

, in 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012. He is the rider with most wins that is currently still active.

Career statistics

1998- 26th, All Japan Road Race GP125 Championship #90

Honda RS125R The Honda RS125R was a 125 Cubic centimetre, cc Two-stroke engine, two-stroke Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Grand Prix racing motorcycle manufactured by Honda Racing Corporation for Motorcycle racing, racing purposes only. It debuted in 1980, r ...

1999- 23rd, All Japan Road Race GP125 Championship #26 Honda RS125R
2000- 20th, All Japan Road Race GP250 Championship #111

Honda RS250R The Honda RS250R was a race motorcycle manufactured by Honda to race in the 250cc class of the Grand Prix motorcycle World Championship. It was conceived as a ''production racer'' for customer teams and privateer riders, while factory-supported te ...

2001- 16th, All Japan Road Race GP250 Championship #100 Honda RS250R
2002- 1st, All Japan Road Race ST600 Championship #54

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 ...

2003- 20th,

#23

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 Worl ...

2004- 6th,

#23

2005- 2nd, British Superbike Championship #6 Honda CBR1000RR
2006- 1st, British Superbike Championship #2 Honda CBR1000RR
2007- 1st, British Superbike Championship #1 Honda CBR1000RR
2008- 9th,

#23 Honda CBR1000RR
2009- 11th, Superbike World Championship #9 Honda CBR1000RR
2010- 1st, British Superbike Championship #8 Honda CBR1000RR
2011- 6th, British Superbike Championship #1 Honda CBR1000RR
2012- 1st, Asia Road Race SS600 Championship #23 Honda CBR600RR
2013- 6th, British Superbike Championship #23 Honda CBR1000RR
2014- 2nd, British Superbike Championship #23

BMW S1000RR BMW S1000RR is a race oriented sport bike initially made by BMW Motorrad to compete in the 2009 Superbike World Championship, that is now in commercial production. It was introduced in Munich in April 2008, and is powered by a four-cylinder eng ...

2015- 20th, British Superbike Championship #23 BMW S1000RR
2016- 20th, British Superbike Championship #23

Suzuki GSX-R1000 The Suzuki GSX-R1000 is a supersport motorcycle made by Suzuki. It was introduced in 2001 to replace the GSX-R1100 and is powered by a liquid-cooled inline four-cylinder, four-stroke engine although originally from 2001 to 2004. History 2 ...

/BMW S1000RR
2017- 11th, All Japan Road Race JSB1000 Championship #88 Honda CBR1000RR
2018- All Japan Road Race JSB1000 Championship #23 Honda CBR1000RR

Supersport World Championship

Races by year

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 ...

)

Superbike World Championship

Races by year

References

External links

*
sportnetwork.net
Rider profile
Speed of Japan
Kiyonari's management agency {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiyonari, Ryuichi 1982 births Living people Japanese motorcycle racers Gresini Racing MotoGP riders British Superbike Championship riders Superbike World Championship riders MotoGP World Championship riders