Hideo Kanaya

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yamaha TZ 500

Hideo Kanaya ( Japanese金谷秀 夫, Kanaya Hideo ; born February 3, 1945 , † December 19, 2013 ) was a Japanese motorcycle racer .

Career

Hideo Kanaya started his career in his native Japan. He made his debut in the motorcycle world championship in 1967 at his home Grand Prix at Fuji Speedway on a Suzuki . Kanaya competed in the 125 cc class and immediately came third behind the Britons Bill Ivy ( Yamaha ) and Stuart Graham (Suzuki).

In 1969 Kanaya became Japanese champion in the 250 cc class, in 1971 he won the titles in the 90 cc category and the 250 cc class of the Japanese national championship.

In 1972 , Hideo Kanaya competed regularly at the World Championship Grand Prix and competed for Yamaha. At the first race of the season, the 36th German Grand Prix on the Nürburgring - Nordschleife , which is considered dangerous , he won the quarter-liter class on a Yamaha ahead of top drivers Dieter Braun (SMZ- Maico ) and Jarno Saarinen (Yamaha). In the 350cc race, the Japanese came third behind Saarinen and Giacomo Agostini ( MV Agusta ). After the Belgian Grand Prix at the beginning of July, Kanaya left Europe again and returned to Japan to devote himself to the development of the new four - cylinder two-stroke -TZ-500. He finished the overall ratings of the displacement categories in eleventh and eighth respectively. In the 500 cc class, the premier class of motorcycle racing , Kanaya also competed alongside Saarinen and became 22nd World Cup.

In the 1973 season , Hideo Kanaya joined Jarno Saarinen in the first-registered Yamaha factory team and achieved podium positions in all of the five races in which he competed. These included a total of four double victories behind Saarinen, one of them in the half-liter class at the Austrian Grand Prix on the Salzburgring . After the Finn's death at the Nations Grand Prix in Monza in May 1973, the TZ-500 project was discontinued and the Japanese only competed in the 250cc class.

After a year-long break from the World Cup, Kanaya joined the Yamaha factory team in 1975 with the then 14-time world champion Giacomo Agostini from Italy in the categories up to 350 and up to 500 cm³. The Japanese won both classes in Austria and achieved five podium positions in a total of six races. The victory in the half-liter class was the first ever Grand Prix victory for a Japanese in the premier class . He finished third in the overall ranking of the 500 cm³ category behind team-mate Agostini and Briton Phil Read (MV Agusta), which was the best World Cup placement represented his career. Kanaya also won the prestigious Macau Grand Prix at the Guia Circuit in the fall .

After that, Kanaya withdrew from the World Cup and only contested a few races. For Yamaha he worked as a test driver until 1982 in the development of the factory machines and production racers. He died unexpectedly on December 19, 2013 at the age of 68.

statistics

title

In the motorcycle world championship

season class motorcycle run Victories Podiums Poles Points Result
1967 125 cc Suzuki 1 - 1 - 4th 12.
1972 250 cc Yamaha 3 1 2 - 26th 11.
350 cc Yamaha 5 - 2 - 41 8th.
500 cc Yamaha 1 - - - 8th 22nd
1973 250 cc Yamaha 3 - 3 - 36 7th
500 cc Yamaha 2 - 2 - 22nd 8th.
1975 350 cc Yamaha 2 1 2 2 25th 10.
500 cc Yamaha 4th 1 3 - 45 3.
total 21st 3 15th 2 207

References

Web links

  • Hideo Kanaya on the official website of the Motorcycle World Championship (English).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Corriere dello Sport, October 16, 1967, p. 14. (No longer available online.) Www.emeroteca.coni.it, archived from the original on December 24, 2013 ; Retrieved December 23, 2013 (Italian).
  2. ↑ Vincent Glon: Les Championnats du Monde de Courses sur Route - L'année 1972. racingmemo.free.fr, accessed on December 23, 2013 (French).
  3. ↑ Florine Martet: Décès du pilote Hideo Kanaya. www.lerepairedesmotards.com, December 19, 2013, accessed December 23, 2013 (French).
  4. ↑ a b Alberto Porta: Il Motomondiale piange Kanaya. www.sportmediaset.mediaset.it, December 20, 2013, accessed on December 23, 2013 (Italian).
  5. ↑ Hideo Kanaya. global.yamaha-motor.com, accessed December 23, 2013 .
personal data
SURNAME Kanaya, Hideo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese motorcycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH February 3, 1945
DATE OF DEATH 19th December 2013