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 Yoshimura factory racing team.
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Motorcycling career
Born in
Fukuoka City
is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since an ...
,
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 no ...
, Yoshimura was called into military service during the
Second World War where he was trained as an aircraft mechanic.
After the war, he began tuning motorcycles for American servicemen stationed in Japan and in 1954, he opened his first shop, with his wife and children helping him.
In 1971, he moved his business to
Los Angeles at the beginning of the four-cylinder
superbike era. He gained a reputation as an excellent motorcycle tuner.
In 1976 the
AMA
Ama or AMA may refer to:
Ama Languages
* Ama language (New Guinea)
* Ama language (Sudan)
People
* Ama (Ama Kōhei), former ring name for sumo wrestler Harumafuji Kōhei
* Mary Ama, a New Zealand artist
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introduced a racing class for production based bikes and Yoshimura established himself by entering fast, reliable
Kawasaki Z1 bikes.
In 1978 he switched to Suzuki bikes and began winning races.
Steve McLaughlin won the 1978 Daytona Superbike race while
Wes Cooley and
Mike Baldwin won the prestigious 1978
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 ...
in Japan.
With Wes Cooley as his rider, Yoshimura claimed the
AMA Superbike national championship in 1979 and 1980.
Yoshimura formed a close relationship with Suzuki and eventually his team became the official Suzuki
factory
A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture
Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with t ...
racing team in the United States. His company experienced success as one of the world's largest performance aftermarket sportbike exhaust manufacturers.
Yoshimura died of cancer in 1995. He left a legacy as a master craftsman, tuner and fabricator and was one of the pioneering personalities of superbike racing.
In 2000, he was inducted into the AMA
Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
His son continues to operate the company which still enjoys success in the AMA superbike class with rider
Mat Mladin winning six championships in seven years, and
Ben Spies winning the 2006-2008 championships.
Yoshimura celebrated its 60th Anniversary event at the 2014 Suzuka 8 Hours race in Japan.
Kevin Schwantz and Satoshi Tsujimoto raced a "Pops Yoshimura" special race bike for the Yoshimura Legends race team.
References
External links
Pops Yoshimura at the AMA Motorcycle Hall of FameYoshimura Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yoshimura, Pops
1922 births
1995 deaths
Sportspeople from Fukuoka (city)
Japanese motorcycle designers
20th-century Japanese businesspeople
Mechanics (trade)
Motorcycle racing team owners
Deaths from cancer in Japan