Daijiro Kato

Daijiro Kato
Daijiro Kato at the 2003 Japanese GP
Nationality	Japanese
Motorcycle racing career statistics Grand Prix motorcycle racing Active years 1995 - 2003 First race 1995 250cc Japanese Grand Prix Last race 2003 MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix First win 1997 250cc Japanese Grand Prix Last win 2001 250cc Brazilian Grand Prix Team(s) Honda Championships 2001 - 250cc Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 53 17 27 11 11 775

Daijiro Kato (加藤 大治郎, Katō Daijirō^?, July 4, 1976 - April 20, 2003) was a Japanese Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and the 2001 World Champion in the 250cc class.^[1]

Biography

Kato was born in Saitama, and started racing miniature bikes at an early age, becoming a four-time national champion in the Japanese pocket-bike championship.

He began road racing in 1992, and entered his first Grand Prix in 1996, as a wild-card rider. In the 250cc class, Kato finished third after debuting at his home circuit of Suzuka Circuit. The next year, he won the Japanese Championship, and again entered the Japanese Grand Prix with a wild card, winning the race at this occasion.

Kato's 2001 Honda NSR250 with Telefónica Movistar livery.

In spite of these successes, Kato did not ride his first full Grand Prix season until 2000, when he started in the 250cc, riding a Honda. He won four races that season (of which two in Japan), and placed third in the championship. In 2001, he dominated the 250cc championship. He won no fewer than 11 races, a record in 250cc, and easily won the title. In that season season he set a new record for the most points in a single season in 250cc class with 322 points.

The following season, Kato moved up to the MotoGP class (formerly 500cc) racing for Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) in the Fortuna Gresini Racing team. Some strong performances on the Honda NSR500 two-stroke bike in the first half of the season including second place at the 2002 Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez circuit, meant he was given a full factory supported four-stroke Honda RC211V for the rest of the season; his best result on the RC211V was a second place at the Czech Grand Prix at Brno.

For 2003, Kato remained at the Gresini team, now with sponsorship from Telefónica movistar brought by new teammate Sete Gibernau joining from Suzuki. On April 6, 2003 during the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, Kato crashed hard and sustained severe head, neck and chest injuries. He was estimated to have hit the wall near the Casio Triangle chicane of the circuit at around 125 mph (200 km/h). Kato spent two weeks in a coma following the accident before dying as a result of the injuries he sustained. The cause of death was listed as brain stem infarction.

In 2006, the Misano World Circuit honoured Kato, who lived part of the season in the area, by naming a new access road to the circuit Via Daijiro Kato. That circuit's offices are located on the road named in his memory.

Kato's #74 racing number

Death

On April 6, 2003, during the first race of the 2003 MotoGP season at Suzuka, Kato crashed hard and sustained severe head, neck and chest injuries. He was estimated to have hit the wall near the Casio Triangle chicane of the circuit at around 125 mph (200 km/h).

The Accident Investigation Committee determined that Kato crashed when he lost control of his machine, which entered a near high-side state, followed by an uncontrollable oscillating weave resulting in him leaving the track and striking the barrier. Initially he and the bike struck a tire barrier, followed by a foam barrier. Importantly, there was a gap between the tire and foam barriers. Kato was fatally injured when his head struck the edge of the foam barrier, dislocating the joint between the base of the skull and the cervical spine.

Questions were raised regarding the actions of the corner workers immediately following the crash. Kato was thrown back onto the track after hitting the barriers and was lying next to the racing line [1]. Normally, when a motorcycle and/or rider are incapacitated on the race track, a red flag is waved and the race stopped so the track can be safely cleared. This did not happen following Kato's accident. Instead, the corner workers moved him onto a stretcher and off the circuit. The race was not stopped.

The Investigation Committee noted : "According to images broadcast during the race, four rescue workers took hold of Kato, who lay collapsed face up in the middle of the course, held him by the right shoulder, the torso and both legs, and moved him sideways just a few dozen centimeters onto the stretcher. It certainly appears that sufficient care was taken to immobilize his head and neck area. However, when the stretcher was moved Kato's head drooped markedly, and it cannot be denied that this might have additionally injured his neck." [3]

Kato spent two weeks in a coma following the accident before dying as a result of the injuries he sustained. The cause of death was listed as brain stem infarction. Many of the MotoGP riders wore black armbands or placed small #74's on their leathers and bikes at the following race in South Africa to pay tribute to the fallen racer. His teammate, Sete Gibernau, has worn a #74 on his racesuit since winning the race in his memory. There has not been a Grand Prix motorcycle race held at Suzuka following Kato's crash, with safety issues at the facility being cited as the reason.

During the 2003 Suzuka 8 Hours race held that July, Honda paid tribute to Kato, a two-time Suzuka winner, by bearing his racing number on the Sakurai Honda bike of Tadayuki Okada and Chojun Kameya (who in Turn 1 crashed on spilt oil on the second lap), along with the bikes of Nicky Hayden and Atsushi Watanabe. Once Tady and the others returned to the pits with their broken bikes, the former 500cc rider was permitted to go back out with a spare bike, as a mark of respect, but was ineligible to win since his original bike was badly damaged. Two hours later, Tady returned to the pitlane to retire the bike amid mass applause from the crowd. At the end of the race, the other Sakurai bikes of Yukio Nukumi and Manabu Kamada (who were still racing), went on to the rostrum to show off Daijiro's helmet bearing his number on the visor, and a photo of him on the bike, as a mark of respect.

Afterwards the FIM retired Kato's number, and the bike number 74 has not been used by any rider since.

Racing highlights

1993

• All Kyushu Area Championship: SP250, GP125, GP250 classes.
• Ranking: Championship winner in all 3 classes.

1994

• All Japan Road Race Championship: GP250 class.
• First win at round 9 at TI Circuit in Aida, Okayama.
• Ranking: Seventh.

1995

• All Japan Road Race Championship: GP250 class.
• Ranking: Fifth.

1996

• All Japan Road Race Championship: GP250 class.
• Ranking: Second.
• Kato participated as a wild card rider at the world grand prix championship GP250 race in Japan and finished third.

1997

• All Japan Road Race Championship: GP250 class.
• Ranking: Championship winner.
• Kato again participated as a wild card rider at the world grand prix championship GP250 race in Japan and won the race.
• Kato raced the Suzuka 8 Hours in Japan and finished ninth.

1998

• All Japan Road Race Championship: GP250 class.
• Ranking: Eighth.
• Kato again participated as a wild card rider at the world grand prix championship GP250 race in Japan and won the race a second time.

1999

• All Japan Road Race Championship: GP250 class.
• Ranking: Second.

2000

• Grand Prix World Championship: GP250 class.
• Ranking: Third.
• Kato was awarded the Rookie-of-the-Year prize in the GP250 class.
• Kato, teaming with fellow Japanese rider Tohru Ukawa, won the Suzuka 8 Hours in Japan.

2001

• Grand Prix World Championship: GP250 class.
• Ranking: Championship winner.
• Kato set a new grand prix world record by winning 11 races throughout the 2001 season. He was also recognized for his efforts to the public by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Science and Technology.

2002

• Grand Prix World Championship: MotoGP/500cc class.
• Ranking: Seventh.
• Kato was awarded the Rookie-of-the-Year prize in the MotoGP/500cc class.
• Kato, this time teaming with American rider Colin Edwards, won the Suzuka 8 Hours in Japan for a second time.

2003

• Grand Prix World Championship: MotoGP class.
• Suffered a fatal crash at the first race at Suzuka.

Grand Prix career statistics

All stats from MotoGP.com^[2]

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd
1996	250cc	Honda NSR250	HRC Honda Team	1	0	1	0	0	16	23rd
1997	250cc	Honda NSR250	Castrol Honda	1	1	1	0	0	25	19th
1998	250cc	Honda NSR250	Castrol Honda	1	1	1	1	0	25	20th
1999	250cc	Honda NSR250		1	0	0	0	0	11	20th
2000	250cc	Honda NSR250	Axo Honda Gresini	16	4	9	3	1	259	3rd
2001	250cc	Honda NSR250	Telefonica Movistar Honda Gresini	16	11	13	6	9	322	1st
2002	MotoGP	Honda NSR500 Honda RC211V	Fortuna Honda Gresini	16	0	2	1	1	117	7th
2003	MotoGP	Honda RC211V	Gresini Racing	1	0	0	0	0	0	-
Total				53	17	27	11	11	775

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Pos	Pts
1995	250cc	Docshop Aprilia	AUS -	MAL -	JPN NC	ESP -	GER -	ITA -	NED -	FRA -	GBR -	CZE -	BRA -	ARG -	EUR -		NC	21st	0
1996	250cc	Honda	MAL -	INA -	JPN 3	ESP -	ITA -	FRA -	NED -	GER -	GBR -	AUT -	CZE -	IMO -	CAT -	BRA -	AUS -		23rd	16
1997	250cc	Honda	MAL -	JPN 1	ESP -	ITA -	AUT -	FRA -	NED -	IMO -	GER -	BRA -	GBR -	CZE -	CAT -	INA -	AUS -		19th	25
1998	250cc	Honda	JPN 1	MAL -	ESP -	ITA -	FRA -	MAD -	NED -	GBR -	GER -	CZE -	IMO -	CAT -	AUS -	ARG -			20th	25
1999	250cc	Honda	MAL -	JPN 5	ESP -	FRA -	ITA -	CAT -	NED -	GBR -	GER -	CZE -	IMO -	VAL -	AUS -	RSA -	BRA -	ARG -	20th	11
2000	250cc	Honda	RSA 2	MAL 3	JPN 1	ESP 2	FRA 6	ITA 3	CAT 4	NED 8	GBR 10	GER 4	CZE 6	POR 1	VAL 5	BRA 1	PAC 1	AUS 3	3rd	259
2001	250cc	Honda	JPN 1	RSA 1	ESP 1	FRA 1	ITA 10	CAT 1	NED 11	GBR 1	GER 2	CZE 3	POR 1	VAL 1	PAC Ret	AUS 1	MAL 1	BRA 1	1st	322
2002	MotoGP	Honda	JPN 10	RSA 4	ESP 2	FRA Ret	ITA Ret	CAT 8	NED 12	GBR 7	GER Ret	CZE 2	POR Ret	BRA Ret	PAC Ret	MAL 5	AUS 4	VAL 4	7th	117
2003	MotoGP	Honda	JPN Ret	RSA -	ESP -	FRA -	ITA -	CAT -	NED -	GBR -	GER -	CZE -	POR -	BRA -	PAC -	MAL -	AUS -	VAL -	-	0

References

1. ^ Daijiro Kato career statistics at MotoGP.com
2. ^ "Daijiro Kato". MotoGP.com. http://www.motogp.com/en/MotoGP+Legends/profiles/Daijiro+Kato. Retrieved 2008-11-15. ^{[dead link]}

 3. Report of the Daijiro Kato Accident Investigation Committee [1]

External links

• Daijiro Kato's official website (mostly in Japanese)
• Amateur video of Kato's crash at YouTube
• Photos from Kato's memorial service on SuperbikePlanet.com
• Find A Grave Memorial

Preceded by Olivier Jacque	250cc Motorcycle World Champion 2001	Succeeded by Marco Melandri
Preceded by Tadayuki Okada Alex Barros	Suzuka 8 Hours winner 2000 (with Tohru Ukawa)	Succeeded by Valentino Rossi Colin Edwards
Preceded by Valentino Rossi Colin Edwards	Suzuka 8 Hours winner 2002 (with Colin Edwards)	Succeeded by Yukio Nukumi Manabu Kamada

Persondata
Name	Kato, Daijiro
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 4, 1976
Place of birth
Date of death	April 20, 2003
Place of death