Makoto Tamada
| Makoto Tamada | ||
|---|---|---|
| Nationality |  Japanese |
|
| Date of birth | November 4, 1976 | |
| Place of birth | Ehime Prefecture | |
| MotoGP Record | ||
| Current team | Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 | |
| Bike number | 6 | |
| World Championships | 0 | |
| Race starts | 65 | |
| Race Wins | 2 | |
| Podium finishes | 5 | |
| Pole positions | 3 | |
| Fastest laps | 2 | |
| Championship Points | 424 | |
| 2007 Championship position | 16th (0 pts) | |
Makoto Tamada (玉田誠) is a motorcycle racer from Japan, born November 4, 1976 in Ehime Prefecture. For 2007 he joins the Tech 3 Yamaha team in MotoGP, alongside French rider Sylvain Guintoli [1]. He is one of the few riders to win races in both MotoGP and World Superbike. He lists his favourite food as meat, and his favourite hobby as darts.
Early years
After a junior career in minibikes, he won a regional 250cc championship in 1994. He then spent 4 years in the main Japanese 250cc series, finishing 4th on a private bike in 1998. He entered the All-Japan Superbike series in 1999. He finished in the championship top 5 for the next 4 years, but came to international fame as a wild card in the Superbike World Championship round at Sugo, upsetting the regulars to win both races in 2001, and a further race in 2002.
MotoGP
This helped earn him a call up to MotoGP in 2003, for
The Konica Minolta Honda [2]team was formed in late 2004 with him in mind, and he spent 2 years there using Michelin rubber. Unfortunately a broken wrist sustained early in the season [3]prevented him from reaching the championship top 10, although he did finish 3rd at his home race. He was also short of top results in 2006. At the Sachsenring he ran 3rd early on, and was still in the top 6 when he went out wide to avoid Kenny Roberts, Jr. crashing, only to be hit by the American's riderless bike.
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
