Katsuyuki Nakasuga
Katsuyuki Nakasuga (中須賀 克行, Nakasuga Katsuyuki, born 9 August 1981 in Fukuoka Prefecture) is a Japanese motorcycle racer.[1] He races a factory Yamaha YZF-R1 in the JSB1000 class of the All Japan Road Race Championship. He has won the Suzuka 8 Hours four times (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018) and the JSB1000 championship title nine times (2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019).
Katsuyuki Nakasuga | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nakasuga in 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | Japanese | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan | 9 August 1981||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Current team | YAMAHA FACTORY RACING TEAM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bike number | 21 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Career
A former competitor in the MFJ All Japan Road Race GP250 Championship between 1999 and 2005, Nakasuga moved into the All Japan Superbike Championship, winning the title in 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 for Yamaha. After losing the title to Honda's Takumi Takahashi in 2017, he added an eighth and ninth title to his resume in 2018 and 2019.
Nakasuga had his premier class Grand Prix start at the Valencia circuit at the final race of the 2011 season as a replacement for the injured Jorge Lorenzo, finishing a creditable sixth place. In 2012, he made a wild-card appearance for Yamaha at his home race at Motegi, finishing ninth, before making another appearance for the factory team at Valencia, this time in place of the injured Ben Spies. Taking advantage of a wet circuit and numerous retirements ahead of him, Nakasuga was able to finish a distant second behind race winner Dani Pedrosa, becoming the only Japanese rider to score a podium finish in any class during 2012.
He won the Suzuka 8 Hours in 2015 with Pol Espargaró and Bradley Smith, in 2016 with Espargaró and Alex Lowes and in 2017 and 2018 with Lowes and Michael van der Mark.
Alongside his racing duties, he currently is the lead test rider for Yamaha in MotoGP.
Career statistics
Grand Prix motorcycle racing
By season
Season | Class | Motorcycle | Team | Race | Win | Podium | Pole | FLap | Pts | Plcd |
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2002 | 250cc | Yamaha | Technospeed Nakasuga | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 31st |
2003 | 250cc | Yamaha | SP Tadao Racing Team | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
2004 | 250cc | Yamaha | SP Tadao Racing Team | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
2011 | MotoGP | Yamaha | Yamaha Factory Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 18th |
2012 | MotoGP | Yamaha | Yamaha YSP Racing Team Yamaha Factory Racing |
2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 18th |
2013 | MotoGP | Yamaha | Yamaha YSP Racing Team | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 22nd |
2014 | MotoGP | Yamaha | Yamalube Racing Team with YSP | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 26th |
2015 | MotoGP | Yamaha | Yamaha Factory Racing Team | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 23rd |
2016 | MotoGP | Yamaha | Yamalube Yamaha Factory Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 23rd |
2017 | MotoGP | Yamaha | Yamalube Yamaha Factory Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 26th |
2018 | MotoGP | Yamaha | Yamalube Yamaha Factory Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 26th |
Total | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 69 |
Races by year
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Suzuka 8 Hours results
Year | Team | Co-riders | Bike | Pos. |
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2015 | Yamaha YZF-R1 | 1st | ||
2016 | Yamaha YZF-R1 | 1st | ||
2017 | Yamaha YZF-R1 | 1st | ||
2018 | Yamaha YZF-R1 | 1st | ||
2019 | Yamaha YZF-R1 | 2nd |
References
- Yamaha team rider profile Retrieved 13 April 2012. (in Japanese)
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Katsuyuki Nakasuga. |
Sporting positions | ||
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Preceded by Leon Haslam Takumi Takahashi Michael van der Mark |
Suzuka 8 Hours Winner 2015–2018 With: Pol Espargaró (2015–2016) Bradley Smith (2015) Alex Lowes (2016–2019) Michael van der Mark (2017-2019) |
Succeeded by Incumbent |