Akira Yanagawa (柳川 明, Yanagawa Akira, born 15 July 1971) is a Japanese former professional motorcycleroad racer. He won three World Superbike Championship races and finished on the podium on 20 further occasions.
He started racing on mini-bikes before becoming Japan's 250cc champion in 1989. He moved to his homeland's Superbike championship in 1993. By 1997Kawasaki considered him ready for the Superbike World Championship.
Initial testing displays[1] and results suggested that they were not wrong. At the A1-Ring, Yanagawa became the first Japanese rider to win a Superbike World Championship race outside his homeland, also winning Sugo later in the year to come 4th overall. 1998 was dominated by two huge crashes. At Monza the bike hurtled through the gravel at the Ascari Chicane before catching fire due to a burst fuel line, with Yanagawa nowhere near it. At Laguna Seca he was running 2nd when Doug Chandler's wild card Kawasaki went out of control on the run into the Corkscrew corner and harpooned Yanagawa. It was a frightening moment, yet Yanagawa only missed one further round. He was classified 2nd in that race, as the restart was abandoned following another pile-up. On his return he took two 4th places, and followed this with two podium results at Sugo. This was good for 7th overall.
In 1999 and 2000 he came 5th overall, with a win at Sugo and five third places in 1999. He was 9th in 2001, crashing on lap 1 of his 100th WSBK race at Sugo but scoring two 3rds at Monza,[2] as Kawasaki gradually lost interest in the Superbike World Championship, focusing instead on developing a MotoGP bike for 2002.[3] Yanagawa raced in Japan's Superbike series while testing this, and briefly raced it before returning to a testing role.[4] He continued in the All-Japan series, leading it in 2007 before losing out to Atsushi Watanabe, and also entered for a one-off MotoGP round at Motegi in 2007.[5]
^. Archived from the original on 7 May 2006. Retrieved 17 October 2006.
^. Archived from the original on 8 May 2006. Retrieved 17 October 2006.
^. Archived from the original on 10 November 2006. Retrieved 17 October 2006.
^""akira yanagawa" - Google Search". www.google.com.
^"Yanagawa to join de Puniet and West at Motegi | MotoGP™".
External linksedit
Profile on MotoGP.com
Profile on WorldSBK.com
January 01, 1970
akira, yanagawa, 柳川, yanagawa, akira, born, july, 1971, japanese, former, professional, motorcycle, road, racer, three, world, superbike, championship, races, finished, podium, further, occasions, nationalityjapaneseborn, 1971, july, 1971, kagoshima, prefectur. Akira Yanagawa 柳川 明 Yanagawa Akira born 15 July 1971 is a Japanese former professional motorcycle road racer He won three World Superbike Championship races and finished on the podium on 20 further occasions Akira YanagawaNationalityJapaneseBorn 1971 07 15 15 July 1971 age 52 Kagoshima Prefecture JapanCurrent teamTeam GREENBike number87Motorcycle racing career statisticsMotoGP World ChampionshipActive years2002 2003 2007ManufacturersKawasaki2007 championship positionNC 0 pts Starts Wins Podiums Poles F laps Points4 0 0 0 0 0Superbike World ChampionshipActive years1994 1996 2002 2010ManufacturersKawasaki2010 championship positionNC 0 pts Starts Wins Podiums Poles F laps Points121 3 23 2 6 1207 Contents 1 Career 2 Career statistics 2 1 Superbike World Championship 2 1 1 Races by year 2 2 Grand Prix motorcycle racing 2 2 1 By season 2 2 2 Races by year 3 References 4 External linksCareer editHe started racing on mini bikes before becoming Japan s 250cc champion in 1989 He moved to his homeland s Superbike championship in 1993 By 1997 Kawasaki considered him ready for the Superbike World Championship Initial testing displays 1 and results suggested that they were not wrong At the A1 Ring Yanagawa became the first Japanese rider to win a Superbike World Championship race outside his homeland also winning Sugo later in the year to come 4th overall 1998 was dominated by two huge crashes At Monza the bike hurtled through the gravel at the Ascari Chicane before catching fire due to a burst fuel line with Yanagawa nowhere near it At Laguna Seca he was running 2nd when Doug Chandler s wild card Kawasaki went out of control on the run into the Corkscrew corner and harpooned Yanagawa It was a frightening moment yet Yanagawa only missed one further round He was classified 2nd in that race as the restart was abandoned following another pile up On his return he took two 4th places and followed this with two podium results at Sugo This was good for 7th overall In 1999 and 2000 he came 5th overall with a win at Sugo and five third places in 1999 He was 9th in 2001 crashing on lap 1 of his 100th WSBK race at Sugo but scoring two 3rds at Monza 2 as Kawasaki gradually lost interest in the Superbike World Championship focusing instead on developing a MotoGP bike for 2002 3 Yanagawa raced in Japan s Superbike series while testing this and briefly raced it before returning to a testing role 4 He continued in the All Japan series leading it in 2007 before losing out to Atsushi Watanabe and also entered for a one off MotoGP round at Motegi in 2007 5 Career statistics editSuperbike World Championship edit Races by year edit Year Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 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 1994 Suzuki GBR GBR GER GER ITA ITA SPA SPA AUT AUT INA INA JPN11 JPN18 NED NED SMR SMR EUR EUR AUS AUS 47th 5 1996 Kawasaki SMR SMR GBR GBR GER GER ITA ITA CZE CZE USA USA EUR EUR INA INA JPNRet JPNDNS NED NED SPA SPA AUS AUS NC 0 1997 Kawasaki AUS4 AUSRet SMRRet SMR5 GBRDNS GBRDNS GER8 GER2 ITA8 ITARet USA10 USA5 EUR5 EUR4 AUT2 AUT1 NED8 NED7 SPA4 SPA4 JPN1 JPNRet INA4 INA2 4th 247 1998 Kawasaki AUS5 AUS5 GBR5 GBR16 ITARet ITA6 SPA13 SPA7 GER4 GER5 SMR5 SMR5 RSA6 RSA5 USA2 USADNS EUR EUR AUT4 AUT4 NED7 NED6 JPN4 JPN2 7th 210 1999 Kawasaki RSA6 RSA5 AUS5 AUS6 GBR5 GBR4 SPA2 SPA2 ITA7 ITA5 GERRet GER3 SMR3 SMR3 USA3 USA12 EUR6 EUR5 AUTDNS AUTDNS NED6 NED4 GER3 GER4 JPN3 JPN1 5th 308 2000 Kawasaki RSADNS RSADNS AUS9 AUS6 JPNRet JPN6 GBR7 GBR5 ITA3 ITA3 GER2 GERRet SMR5 SMR6 SPA10 SPA12 USA6 USA5 EUR9 EUR5 NED6 NED2 GER4 GER3 GBR6 GBR7 5th 247 2001 Kawasaki SPA8 SPA6 RSA5 RSARet AUS4 AUSC JPNRet JPN11 ITA3 ITA3 GBR14 GBR8 GER12 GER10 SMR5 SMRRet USARet USA8 EUR10 EUR8 GER4 GER9 NED8 NED6 ITADNS ITADNS 9th 170 2002 Kawasaki SPA SPA AUS AUS RSA RSA JPN6 JPN6 ITA ITA GBR GBR GER GER SMR SMR USA USA GBR GBR GER GER NED NED ITA ITA 23rd 20 2010 Kawasaki AUS AUS POR POR SPA SPA NED NED ITA ITA RSA RSA USA USA SMR SMR CZE CZE GBR19 GBR19 GER GER ITA ITA FRA FRA NC 0 Grand Prix motorcycle racing edit By season edit Season Class Motorcycle Team Number Race Win Podium Pole FLap Pts Plcd 2002 MotoGP Kawasaki Kawasaki Racing Team 48 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC 2003 MotoGP Kawasaki Kawasaki Racing Team 48 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC 2007 MotoGP Kawasaki Kawasaki Racing Team 87 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC Total 4 0 0 0 0 0 Races by year edit 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 2002 MotoGP Kawasaki JPN RSA SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR BRA PACRet MAL AUS VAL NC 0 2003 MotoGP Kawasaki JPN18 RSA SPA FRA ITA CATRet NED GBR GER CZE POR BRA PAC MAL AUS VAL NC 0 2007 MotoGP Kawasaki QAT SPA CHN TUR FRA ITA CAT GBR NED GER USA CZE RSM POR JPN17 AUS MAL VAL NC 0References edit Motorcycle Online Daily News 4 15 97 Archived from the original on 7 May 2006 Retrieved 17 October 2006 Bayliss Doubles at Monza WSB Archived from the original on 8 May 2006 Retrieved 17 October 2006 Welcome Back Kawasaki Archived from the original on 10 November 2006 Retrieved 17 October 2006 akira yanagawa Google Search www google com Yanagawa to join de Puniet and West at Motegi MotoGP External links editProfile on MotoGP com Profile on WorldSBK com Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Akira Yanagawa amp oldid 1197718606, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
