Makoto Tamada

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Makoto Tamada
Tamada in 2006
NationalityJapanese
Born (1976-11-04) November 4, 1976 (age 47)
Ehime Prefecture, Japan
Websitetamayangp.com
Motorcycle racing career statistics
Grand Prix motorcycle racing
Active years1998, 20032007
First race1998 250cc Japanese Grand Prix
Last race2007 MotoGP Valencian Grand Prix
First win2004 MotoGP Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix
Last win2004 MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix
Team(s)Honda, Yamaha
Championships0
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
82 2 5 3 2 462
Superbike World Championship
Active years19992002, 20082011
Manufacturers
Championships
0
2011 championship positionNC (0 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
51 3 4 1 3 169

Makoto Tamada (玉田誠) (born November 4, 1976, in

.

Career

Early career

After a junior career in minibikes, he won a regional 250cc championship in 1994. He then spent 4 years in the main Japanese 250cc series, finishing 4th on a private bike in 1998. He entered the

Sugo, upsetting the regulars to win both races in 2001, and a further race in 2002, being the only rider other than Colin Edwards or Troy Bayliss
to have won a race during the 2002 season.

MotoGP World Championship

This helped earn him a call up to

MotoGP season to date, with wins at Rio and Motegi and 6th overall. He was the only Honda rider to use Bridgestone
tyres, which appear to suit his style.

The

Kenny Roberts, Jr. crashing, only to be hit by the American's
riderless bike.

In 2007 he joined the Tech 3

MotoGP using Dunlop tyres, alongside French rider Sylvain Guintoli.[1]
He was generally outpaced by his rookie teammate and finished the season 18th.

Superbike World Championship

He was left with no options in MotoGP so for 2008 he turned his focus on the Superbike World Championship. Kawasaki expressed their desire to hire him, quoting: "Tamada has been a target for Kawasaki for some time and his signing consolidates the PSG-1 team and Kawasaki’s mutual commitment to gain success in the forthcoming season."

He joins the Italian factory supported Kawasaki team, PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse, where he will pilot the all-new 2008

Regis Laconi who rode for them in both 2006 and 2007.[2] For 2009 he remained a factory Kawasaki rider, as they switched their support to the English Paul Bird Motorsport team, alongside Australian Broc Parkes
.

On October 6, 2009, Kawasaki announced that Tamada would not be offered a contract for 2010. His place will be taken by former

2010

In 2010 Tamada returned to WSBK in a one-off outing for the Reitwagen BMW team at Portimao in Portugal. He retired from the first race and finished 19th in the second race.

2011

On July 31, 2011, Tamada competed in the Suzuka 8 Hour race for the Musashi RT Harc-Pro team. He rode alongside former 500cc racer Tadayuki Okada and Takumi Takahashi. The team eventually took third position in the race, roughly one and a half minutes after the winning team finished.

In late August it was announced that Tamada will race in the Nurburgring round of the 2011 World Superbike Championship for the Castrol Honda team. He will replace Spaniard Ruben Xaus who is sitting out the race due to a back injury.

2012

Tamada was appointed official trainer of the inaugural Asia Dream Cup season by Honda in 2012. The Asia Dream Cup races with Honda CBR250R. Two riders from each Asian country is selected. Tamada was appointed to train the young riders to one day become a World Championship rider.

In July, Tamada competed in the Suzuka 8 Hours with Honda Team Asia. Teammates were Malaysian rider, Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman and Japanese veteran, Chojun Kameya. They qualified 10th. Early mechanical problems forced them to a 25th finish.

2013

Honda and Tamada's agency, Speed of Japan both announced Tamada's full time ride in the Asia Road Racing Championship in the Supersports 600 class with MUSASHi Boon Siew Honda Racing, the factory team for Honda in the series.[4] He is replacing in Ryuichi Kiyonari, who won the title in 2012 and has gone back to BSB in 2013.

Tamada, stating that it took him more time to get used to a 600cc machine at the beginning of the season, actually made it fast. He got his first podium finish at Race 2 of Round 1 in Sepang. He then got his first win at Race 1 at Round 3, and went on winning Race 2.

However, he suffered the later half of the season from injuries he got from a crash during the Suzuka 8 Hours practice. Fractures of the left clavicle and scapula, as well as fractures on the left ankle were found. Furthermore, a minor amputation of the left middle finger was found. This made Tamada pull out of the Suzuka 8 Hours race, as well as, Round 4 and 5 of the Asia Road Racing Championship.

Career statistics

Career highlights

1995–11th, All Japan Road Race GP250 Championship #73 Honda RS250R
1996–14th, All Japan Road Race GP250 Championship #11 Honda RS250R
1997–6th, All Japan Road Race GP250 Championship #14 Honda RS250R
1998–4th, All Japan Road Race GP250 Championship #6 Honda RS250R
1999–5th, All Japan Road Race Superbike Championship #100 Honda RVF750 RC45
2000–3rd, All Japan Road Race Superbike Championship #100 Honda RVF750 RC45
2001–2nd, All Japan Road Race Superbike Championship #100 Honda VTR1000F
2002–4th, All Japan Road Race Superbike Championship #100 Honda VTR1000F
2003–11th,

MotoGP #6 Honda RC211V

2004–6th,

2005–11th,

2006–12th,

2007–18th,

2008–20th,
Kawasaki ZX-10R

2009–27th,
Kawasaki ZX-10R

2011–3rd,
Suzuka 8 Hours #634 Honda CBR1000RR
2012–25th, Suzuka 8 Hours #25 Honda CBR1000RR
2013–8th, Asia Road Race SS600 Championship #100 Honda CBR600RR
2014–6th, Asia Road Race SS600 Championship #100 Honda CBR600RR

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

Season Class Motorcycle Team Number Race Win Podium Pole FLap Pts Plcd WCh
1998 250cc Honda NSR250 Team Kotake 53 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC  –
2003 MotoGP Honda RC211V Pramac Honda 6 16 0 1 0 0 87 11th  –
2004 MotoGP Honda RC211V Camel Honda 6 16 2 3 3 2 150 6th  –
2005 MotoGP Honda RC211V Konica Minolta Honda 6 14 0 1 0 0 91 11th  –
2006 MotoGP Honda RC211V Konica Minolta Honda 6 17 0 0 0 0 96 12th  –
2007 MotoGP Yamaha YZR-M1 Dunlop Yamaha Tech3 6 18 0 0 0 0 38 18th  –
Total 82 2 5 3 2 462 0

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Pts
1998 250cc Honda JPN
16
MAL SPA ITA FRA MAD NED GBR GER CZE IMO CAT AUS ARG NC 0
2003 MotoGP Honda JPN
Ret
RSA
14
SPA
6
FRA
Ret
ITA
4
CAT
7
NED
16
GBR
13
GER
13
CZE
9
POR
10
BRA
3
PAC
DSQ
MAL
10
AUS
10
VAL
10
11th 87
2004 MotoGP Honda RSA
8
SPA
Ret
FRA
9
ITA
Ret
CAT
Ret
NED
12
BRA
1
GER
6
GBR
14
CZE
4
POR
2
JPN
1
QAT
10
MAL
5
AUS
8
VAL
5
6th 150
2005 MotoGP Honda SPA
8
POR
DNS
CHN FRA ITA
8
CAT
Ret
NED
14
USA
7
GBR
7
GER
10
CZE
10
JPN
3
MAL
12
QAT
Ret
AUS
8
TUR
9
VAL
9
11th 91
2006 MotoGP Honda SPA
10
QAT
14
TUR
10
CHN
6
FRA
7
ITA
9
CAT
7
NED
11
GBR
11
GER
Ret
USA
11
CZE
13
MAL
14
AUS
10
JPN
10
POR
5
VAL
12
12th 96
2007 MotoGP Yamaha QAT
16
SPA
14
TUR
14
CHN
Ret
FRA
9
ITA
15
CAT
12
GBR
15
NED
13
GER
13
USA
8
CZE
17
RSM

14
POR
Ret
JPN
12
AUS
16
MAL
18
VAL
15
18th 38

Superbike World Championship

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pos Pts
R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2
1999
Honda RSA RSA AUS AUS GBR GBR SPA SPA
ITA
ITA
GER GER
SMR
SMR
USA
USA
EUR EUR
AUT
AUT
NED NED GER GER
JPN

10
JPN

10
38th 12
2000
Honda RSA RSA AUS AUS
JPN

7
JPN

Ret
GBR GBR
ITA
ITA
GER GER
SMR
SMR
SPA
SPA
USA
USA
EUR EUR NED NED GER GER GBR GBR 37th 9
2001
Honda
SPA
SPA
RSA RSA AUS AUS
JPN

1
JPN

1
ITA
ITA
GBR GBR
GER
GER
SMR
SMR
USA
USA
EUR EUR GER GER NED NED
ITA
ITA
15th 50
2002
Honda
SPA
SPA
AUS AUS RSA RSA
JPN

2
JPN

1
ITA
ITA
GBR GBR
GER
GER
SMR
SMR
USA
USA
GBR GBR GER GER NED NED
ITA
ITA
18th 45
2008
Kawasaki QAT
Ret
QAT
12
AUS
Ret
AUS
14
SPA
9
SPA
Ret
NED
8
NED
9
ITA
Ret
ITA
Ret
USA
19
USA
13
GER
9
GER
13
SMR
Ret
SMR
Ret
CZE
16
CZE
17
GBR
18
GBR
18
EUR
Ret
EUR
16
ITA
20
ITA
19
FRA
18
FRA
18
POR
19
POR
24
20th 41
2009
Kawasaki AUS
18
AUS
17
QAT
DNS
QAT
DNS
SPA
14
SPA
Ret
NED
17
NED
Ret
ITA
DNS
ITA
DNS
RSA RSA USA USA SMR SMR GBR GBR CZE
10
CZE
Ret
GER
DNS
GER
DNS
ITA
Ret
ITA
DNS
FRA FRA POR
12
POR
16
27th 12
2010
BMW AUS AUS POR
Ret
POR
19
SPA SPA NED NED ITA ITA RSA RSA USA USA SMR SMR CZE CZE GBR GBR GER GER ITA ITA FRA FRA NC 0
2011
Honda AUS AUS EUR EUR NED NED ITA ITA USA USA SMR SMR SPA SPA CZE CZE GBR GBR GER
17
GER
Ret
ITA ITA FRA FRA POR POR NC 0

References

  1. ^ Tamada to replace Checa at Tech3 bbc.co.uk
  2. ^ Tamada to ride for Kawasaki in 2008 SBK Championship kawasaki-racingteam.eu
  3. ^ "Vermeulen WSB Kawasaki switch confirmed". Insidebikes. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
  4. ^ "Speed of Japan".

External links