Tetsuya Harada
Tetsuya Harada ( Japanese 原田 哲 也 , Harada Tetsuya ; born June 14, 1970 in Chiba , Chiba Prefecture , Japan ) is a former Japanese motorcycle racer .
In 1993 Harada was world champion in the 250 cm³ class of the motorcycle world championship .
Career
Early years
Tetsuya Harada won the Japanese 125 cc Junior Championship in 1988 and was second in the Japanese 250 cc championship in 1990 and 1991, behind Tadayuki Okada . In 1992 he was able to win the title in this racing series. During these three years, Harada also took part in the 250 cc Grand Prix of Japan as part of the motorcycle world championship and was able to qualify twice for the front row and finish in the points.
250 cc world championship
His good performances gave Tetsuya Harada the chance in 1993 to contest his first 250cc World Championship season for Yamaha . With four wins and 197 points, he won the World Cup by just four points over the Italian Loris Capirossi .
In the 1994 season , Harada was plagued by a wrist injury for a long time and was able to achieve seventh place overall with just one podium. In 1995 he fought for a long time with the Aprilia driver Max Biaggi for the world title, but with one victory and eight second places he ultimately had to let the Italian go first. In the 1996 season , Harada's Yamaha was inferior to the competition from Honda and Aprilia; the Japanese could only achieve four podium places and at the end of the season finished eighth overall.
This eventually led him to leave Yamaha for the 1997 season and join Aprilia. This season he was able to finish in the top five twelve times in 15 races and win three races; in the overall championship standings, he finished third with 235 points.
In the 1998 season Tetsuya Harada drove together with the Italians Loris Capirossi and Valentino Rossi in the Aprilia works team. The Japanese scored five victories and led the overall standings for a long time. At the last World Championship round in Argentina he was also in the lead a few hundred meters from the finish, and the World Championship title already seemed to belong to him when Loris Capirossi attempted a daring overtaking maneuver in a right turn and Harada shot off the track. The race was ultimately won by Valentino Rossi, Capirossi took second place and was first in the overall standings. After the race, Harada protested and Capirossi was initially disqualified, but again protested, was right and eventually became world champion. Tetsuya Harada only finished third in the World Championship.
The 2001 season was Harada's last in the 250cc class. After eight pole positions , three wins and a total of 13 podium places, he was finally runner-up behind his compatriot Daijirō Katō with 273 points.
500 cc and MotoGP class
In 1999 Tetsuya Harada drove for Aprilia in the 500cc class. He started with five places in the top five in the first ten races and was able to take the podium at Paul Ricard and Donington Park . At the end of the season he finished tenth overall. In the 2000 season he was no longer competitive with his Aprilia and was only able to finish in the top ten once. He then decided to switch back to the 250 cc class. In the 2002 season he switched to the Pramac Honda team in the newly created MotoGP class and finished 17th in the overall championship with 47 points. After that season, Tetsuya Harada ended his active career.
successes
- 1992 - Japanese 250cc champion
- 1993 - 250 cc world champion on a Yamaha
- 1995 - 250 cc vice world champion on Aprilia
- 2001 - 250 cc vice world champion on Aprilia
- 17 Grand Prix victories
Web links
- Tetsuya Harada on the official website of the Motorcycle World Championship (English).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Harada, Tetsuya |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | 原田 哲 也 (Japanese) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Japanese motorcycle racer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 14, 1970 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chiba , Japan |