Shinya Nakano

Shinya Nakano (中野真矢, Nakano Shin'ya, born in Tokyo on October 10, 1977, and raised in Chiba) is a retired Japanese Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Superbike rider.^[1] He is not related to the former Formula One racer Shinji Nakano.

Career

Early career

Nakano was All-Japan 250cc champion in 1998, the highlight of a long career in both 125cc and 250cc Japanese national championships.^[2] Nakano moved to international competition full-time in 1999, adjusting to 250cc Grand Prix racing quickly, finishing fourth overall with five podium finishes.^[1] In 2000 Nakano and teammate Olivier Jacque battled with Daijiro Kato for the title, which ultimately went to Jacque.^[1] Nakano set the fastest 250cc lap at Motegi in 2000, a record that stood until 2008 – the longest standing lap record in the series.

250cc & 500cc/MotoGP World Championship

For 2001 the Tech 3 team moved up to the 500cc World Championship, which would eventually become MotoGP in 2002. Despite having semi-works machinery, Nakano only managed to finish fifth in the championship.^[1] Nakano started 2002 on a 500cc two-stroke machine, but the team was able to provide the newer 990cc four-stroke by the end of the season. 2003 was less successful prompting a move to Kawasaki for 2004.^[1]

Kawasaki suffered a disastrous debut year with Garry McCoy and Andrew Pitt, before the team improved with Nakano on board. The team's first podium came at the 2004 Japanese Grand Prix and two seasons of consistent results earned him a pair of 10th place championship finishes.^[1] In 2006 Nakano was able to produce strong qualifying runs but less competitive races, a trait of the Bridgestone tyres. Two jump-start penalties did not help Nakano's results. At the 2006 Australian Grand Prix, Nakano started on the front row and lead the early laps, before switching to wet tyres too late and not being competitive on them.

For 2007 Nakano joined Konica Minolta Honda. Results were thin in 2007, with only a handful of top 10 qualifying and race results. Rumors began that Nakano might make the move to the highly competitive World Superbike Championship for the 2008 season. However, Nakano ultimately joined Fausto Gresini's MotoGP team,^[3] replacing Toni Elías. Bringing experience with Bridgestone tyres and Honda bikes, he had a solid if unspectacular season, scoring more points in the first half of 2008 than in the whole of 2007.^[1] At Brno, Nakano was given the factory spring-valve Honda RC212V, beginning a string of greatly improved results. Nakano left the Gresini team at the end of the 2008 season, following the team's decision to sign Alice Ducati rider Toni Elías for 2009.

Superbike World Championship

In 2009, Nakano was signed by Aprilia along with Max Biaggi for their return to the World Superbike Championship after a three-year absence. He finished the season in 14th place.^[4] On October 28, 2009, Nakano announced that he would be retiring from professional motorcycle racing.^[5] The decision followed a season in which he had struggled with injury problems, including a broken collarbone and a neck injury that kept him out of the final three rounds of the season.

Career statistics^[1]

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Team	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pos	Pts
1998	250cc	Yamaha	YZR250	JPN 2	MAL	ESP	ITA	FRA	MAD	NED	GBR	GER	CZE	IMO	CAT	AUS 4	ARG					19th	33
1999	250cc	Tech 3 Yamaha	YZR250	MAL 3	JPN 1	ESP Ret	FRA 2	ITA 5	CAT 4	NED 5	GBR 3	GER 4	CZE 4	IMO 5	VAL 4	AUS 4	RSA 2	BRA 15	ARG 5			4th	207
2000	250cc	Tech 3 Yamaha	YZR250	RSA 1	MAL 1	JPN 3	ESP 15	FRA 2	ITA 1	CAT 3	NED 3	GBR 7	GER 3	CZE 1	POR Ret	VAL 1	BRA 4	PAC 2	AUS 2			2nd	272
2001	500cc	Gauloises Tech 3 Yamaha	YZR500	JPN 5	RSA 4	ESP 4	FRA 11	ITA 8	CAT 4	NED 5	GBR 6	GER 3	CZE DNS	POR 9	VAL 7	PAC 6	AUS 7	MAL 4	BRA 9			5th	155
2002	MotoGP	Gauloises Tech 3 Yamaha	YZR500	JPN Ret	RSA 8	ESP 17	FRA 13	ITA 11	CAT Ret	NED 8	GBR 10	GER 5	CZE Ret	POR 12	BRA Ret	PAC 16						11th	68
2002	MotoGP	Gauloises Tech 3 Yamaha	YZR-M1														MAL 6	AUS 13	VAL 6			11th	68
2003	MotoGP	d'Antin Yamaha	YZR-M1	JPN 9	RSA 11	ESP 8	FRA 14	ITA 5	CAT 5	NED 13	GBR 9	GER 7	CZE 14	POR 12	BRA 8	PAC 9	MAL 8	AUS 7	VAL Ret			10th	101
2004	MotoGP	Kawasaki	ZX-RR	RSA 12	ESP 9	FRA Ret	ITA Ret	CAT 7	NED Ret	BRA 9	GER 7	GBR 15	CZE 12	POR 11	JPN 3	QAT Ret	MAL 8	AUS 12	VAL 7			10th	83
2005	MotoGP	Kawasaki	ZX-RR	ESP 5	POR 8	CHN Ret	FRA 8	ITA 10	CAT 9	NED 8	USA 9	GBR Ret	GER 6	CZE 12	JPN Ret	MAL Ret	QAT 7	AUS 7	TUR 10	VAL 11		10th	98
2006	MotoGP	Kawasaki	ZX-RR	ESP 7	QAT 11	TUR 8	CHN 8	FRA 12	ITA 11	CAT DSQ	NED 2	GBR Ret	GER 6	USA Ret	CZE 8	MAL Ret	AUS 8	JPN Ret	POR Ret	VAL 7		14th	92
2007	MotoGP	Konica Minolta Honda	RC212V	QAT 10	ESP 10	CHN 13	TUR Ret	FRA Ret	ITA 13	CAT 15	GBR 14	NED 12	GER Ret	USA 12	CZE 14	RSM 10	POR 11	JPN 16	AUS 13	MAL 16	VAL 14	17th	47
2008	MotoGP	Gresini Honda	RC212V	QAT 13	ESP 9	POR 10	CHN 10	FRA 10	ITA 9	CAT 9	GBR 9	NED 8	GER 9	USA 10	CZE 4	RSM 12	IND 17	JPN 8	AUS 5	MAL 5	VAL 7	9th	126