- Tomoko Igata
Tomoko Igata (井形とも子, born
October 30 ,1965 ) was a Japanese Grand Prixmotorcycle road racer. She was one of a handful of females to race at Grand Prix level over the history of the Championships.She competed in the 125cc
All Japan Road Race Championship from1991 to1993 , finishing in the Top 10 every year. Her best result was in 1992 when she finished 6th in the Championship. It was in this year that she also made her Grand Prix debut at Suzuka as a wild card where she bested the treacherous wet track finishing 20th and capturing the attention of the media.In 1994 she signed up for a full 125cc World Championship with the FCC Technical Sports team racing a
Honda RS125 . She obtained immediately two points at the first race in Australia and did an impressive race in Suzuka, but was injured in a crash at the Austrian Grand Prix and was replaced by her team-mate in japanese championshipTomomi Manako . She returned towards the end of season to finish 28th in the Championship.She again competed in the 1995 season and achieved a best place finish of 7th at the Czech Grand Prix after having also occupied the 5th place, the highest placing for a female in the history of the Championship. She ended the season in 20th.
Igata subsequently returned to Japanese racing in the 125cc class but without major success.
References
* [http://www.motoracing-japan.com/result/index.html Results of All-Japan Road Racing Championships]
* [http://park5.wakwak.com/~yumei/ Results for the Grand Prix 125cc and 250cc class, 1992 to 1995]
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