Yukio Kagayama

Infobox Superbike rider


Name = Yukio Kagayama
Caption = Yukio Kagayama
Nationality = flagicon|JPN Japanese
Birthdate = 4 May, 1974
Birthplace = Yokohama Japan
Website = [http://www.kagayama.com kagayama.com]
Current team = Team Suzuki Alstare
Bike number = 34
Race Starts = 72
Race Wins = 4
Podiums = 15
Poles = 3
Fastest laps = 4
Last season = 2008
Last position = 15th (18pts)Infobox Former Grand Prix motorcycle rider


|Caption =
Name = Yukio Kagayama
Nationality = flagicon|Japan Japanese
Years = 1997 - 1999, 2001 - 2004
Teams = Suzuki
Races = 14
Championships =
Wins =
Podiums = 0
Points = 65
Poles = 0
Fastest laps = 0
First race = 1997 250cc Japanese Grand Prix
First win =
Last win =
Last race = 2004 MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix

Yukio Kagayama (born 4 May, 1974 in Yokohama Japan) is a professional motorcycle road racer. He began motorcycle racing in 1990, spending many years in the All Japan Road Race Championship, finishing fourth in 2001. He contested 4 250 cc World Championship races in 1997 and 1998, finishing top-8 in all four. In 2003 he raced in the British Superbike Championship for Rizla Suzuki, alongside double British champion John Reynolds, and had won three races when he crashed heavily at Cadwell Park.

He returned for the start of 2004, [cite web|url=http://www.metro.co.uk/fame/interviews/article.html?in_article_id=742&in_page_id=11|title=www.metro.co.uk/fame/interviews/article.html?in_article_id=742&in_page_id=11 ] finishing 3rd in the championship despite not being at full fitness early in the season (a further crash caused a broken collarbone). He has also made various starts for Suzuki in Grand Prix racing, scoring several top 10 finishes in wildcard rides.

uperbike World Championship

For SBK|2005 he joined SBK|1996 Superbike World Champion Troy Corser in the Alstare Suzuki team in the Superbike World Championship , and won races on the GSX-R1000, riding on largely unfamiliar circuits against some of the world's top riders. He finished 5th overall, and did enough to retain his ride for SBK|2006. In the first race, he collided with Noriyuki Haga while battling for the lead on the final lap. He then had a run of poor results, before taking a third and a fourth at Misano, and then an impressive double win from the second row at Brno, [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/motorbikes/5208202.stm|title=news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/motorbikes/5208202.stm ] nearly doubling his points total in one weekend. He came 7th overall in the series.

In SBK|2007 he remained at Suzuki, but missed four rounds through injury. [cite web|url=http://www.crash.net/motorsport/wsbk/racer_bio/2074/yukio_kagayama.html|title=www.crash.net/motorsport/wsbk/racer_bio/2074/yukio_kagayama.html ] He finished the season ranked 13th. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/motorbikes/6651911.stm|title=BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Motorbikes | Haga rides to double win at Monza ] For 2008 he switches his racing number to #34, as used by former 500 cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz

References

External links

* [http://www.kagayama.com kagayama.com] Official website