Best ever from Nippon

[chunder]

Was having a think about this the otehr night on teh way shopping!

Who is the best ever Japanese rider.

The emotional vote will always I guess go with Katoh and though possibly the best ona 250 his talent on a GP bike was cut short and largely unfulfilled.

My vote would go with Tady Okada, mainly coz he won on everything. 250, 500, 4 stroke. Only let down by his appalling year on the Castrol Honda in WSBK.

Others will go for Harada, and again his 250 prowess to be able to be the only guy able to get near Max on an Aprilia was amazing. But his speed on 500's was not there, though quick sometimes on an Aprilia he was often outpaced by good old Jezza.

Abe was quick on a 500 sometimes, but not on anything else.

I reckon Takuma Aokiw as going to be amazing, he was superb on a WSBK Honda and also got great results on the NSR-V.

And what of Haru, amazing on a 125, did naff all on anything else!!

Maybe the early guys like Takazumi Katayama or Tadahiro Taira? Sakata, doube world champ on 125?

[DavidStHubbins]

Katoh on the GP scene. Wasn't quite Rossi standard, but would have been good on 800. Supreme in 250.

Haga on WSBK. But definitely not in GP!

[ghinzani]

Youichi Ui

[chunder]

Lol, hald decent on a 125 that was designed and built specifically for him, but not done a lot elsewhere.

Damn quick though and could have been world champion for Derbi (nee Bartol Yamaha)

[Jeff 8]

Nobuatsu Aoki, the one you didn't mention, had one great year in 1997 on the ex-Doohan 500, beating many factory efforts, third in the title IIRC.

My favourite is Harada, he won the title on what was alleged to be the slowest bike in the field.

Jeff

[Mulsanne Bleu]

My personal fave is Norick Abe, particularly his performance at the '94 Japanese GP, even though Carl Foggy criticise him for only being good at Suzuka

[Graz]

I suppose it would have to be Abe. He was around a long time and had some reasonable success.

[cg7aa]

My two favourites are Haga and Akira Yanagawa. They were the two I was rooting for back in 2000 when I first got into superbike racing. Akira on the Kawasaki around Hockenheim and Monza was awesome. Missile in a straight line...when it lasted.