- Erv Kanemoto
Erv Kanemoto (Born
May 7 ,1943 inUtah ) is known as a World Champion motorcycle mechanic and motorcycle race team owner. The son of a farmer, he began boat racing as a child then switched to tuningkart s raced by his sister.He was hired as a race mechanic by Kawasaki in 1968 and became famous for his partnership with motorcycle racer
Gary Nixon when they won the 1973 U.S. Road Racing National Championship aboard a temperamental and brutally fast Kawasaki H2R, a 750cc three cylinder,two-stroke .When Nixon retired in 1979, Kanemoto joined a young up and coming road racer named
Freddie Spencer and won the U.S. 250cc Road Racing National Championship with a Yamaha. He spent the 1980 season with Spencer before moving to Europe in 1981 to be a Yamaha mechanic for former 500cc World ChampionBarry Sheene .He is perhaps best known for the World Championships won with Spencer for the
Honda Grand Prix team in 1983 and 1985 when Spencer accomplished the double by winning both the 250cc and the 500cc Road Racing World Championships in the same year, a feat that still has not been repeated.He joined forces with
Eddie Lawson in 1989 to win another 500cc World Championship for Honda. Kanemoto also won 250cc World Championships for Honda in 1991 and 1992 withLuca Cadalora as the rider, and in 1997 withMax Biaggi as the rider.In 2001 Kanemoto was inducted into the AMA
Motorcycle Hall of Fame . Kanemoto is currently still involved in motorcycle Grand Prix racing.References
* [http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/hofbiopage.asp?id=206 Motorcycle Hall of Fame]
* [http://www.kanemoto-racing.com/ Kanemoto Racing]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.