Akira Yanagawa

is a Japanese occasional motorcycle road racer. He won three World Superbike Championship races and finished on the podium on 20 further occasions.

Career Yanagawa started racing on mini-bikes before becoming Japan's 250cc champion in 1989. He moved to his homeland's Superbike championship in 1993. By Kawasaki considered him ready for the Superbike World Championship.

Initial testing displays and results suggested that they were not wrong. At the A1-Ring, Yanagawa became the first Japanese rider to win a Superbike World Championship race outside his homeland, also winning Sugo later in the year to come fourth overall. was dominated by two huge crashes. At Monza, the bike hurtled through the gravel at the Ascari Chicane before catching fire due to a burst fuel line, with Yanagawa nowhere near it. At Laguna Seca, he was running second when Doug Chandler's wild card Kawasaki went out of control on the run into the Corkscrew corner and harpooned Yanagawa. It was a frightening moment, yet Yanagawa only missed one further round. He was classified second in that race, as the restart was abandoned following another pile-up. On his return, he took two fourth places, and followed this with two podium results at Sugo. This was good for seventh overall.

In and , Yanagawa came fifth overall, with a win at Sugo and five third places in . He was ninth in , crashing on lap 1 of his 100th WSBK race at Sugo but scoring two thirds at Monza, as Kawasaki gradually lost interest in the Superbike World Championship, focusing instead on developing a MotoGP bike for 2002. Yanagawa raced in Japan's Superbike series while testing this, and briefly raced it before returning to a testing role. He continued in the All-Japan series, leading it in 2007 before losing out to Atsushi Watanabe, and also entered for a one-off MotoGP round at Motegi in 2007.

Career statistics

Superbike World Championship

Races by year Year Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pts R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 1994 Suzuki GBR GBR GER GER ITA ITA SPA SPA AUT AUT INA INA JPN11 JPN18 NED NED SMR SMR EUR EUR AUS AUS 47th 5 1996 Kawasaki SMR SMR GBR GBR GER GER ITA ITA CZE CZE USA USA EUR EUR INA INA JPNRet JPNDNS NED NED SPA SPA AUS AUS NC 0 1997 Kawasaki AUS4 AUSRet SMRRet SMR5 GBRDNS GBRDNS GER8 GER2 ITA8 ITARet USA10 USA5 EUR5 EUR4 AUT2 AUT1 NED8 NED7 SPA4 SPA4 JPN1 JPNRet INA4 INA2 4th 247 1998 Kawasaki AUS5 AUS5 GBR5 GBR16 ITARet ITA6 SPA13 SPA7 GER4 GER5 SMR5 SMR5 RSA6 RSA5 USA2 USADNS EUR EUR AUT4 AUT4 NED7 NED6 JPN4 JPN2 7th 210 1999 Kawasaki RSA6 RSA5 AUS5 AUS6 GBR5 GBR4 SPA2 SPA2 ITA7 ITA5 GERRet GER3 SMR3 SMR3 USA3 USA12 EUR6 EUR5 AUTDNS AUTDNS NED6 NED4 GER3 GER4 JPN3 JPN1 5th 308 2000 Kawasaki RSADNS RSADNS AUS9 AUS6 JPNRet JPN6 GBR7 GBR5 ITA3 ITA3 GER2 GERRet SMR5 SMR6 SPA10 SPA12 USA6 USA5 EUR9 EUR5 NED6 NED2 GER4 GER3 GBR6 GBR7 5th 247 2001 Kawasaki SPA8 SPA6 RSA5 RSARet AUS4 AUSC JPNRet JPN11 ITA3 ITA3 GBR14 GBR8 GER12 GER10 SMR5 SMRRet USARet USA8 EUR10 EUR8 GER4 GER9 NED8 NED6 ITADNS ITADNS 9th 170 2002 Kawasaki SPA SPA AUS AUS RSA RSA JPN6 JPN6 ITA ITA GBR GBR GER GER SMR SMR USA USA GBR GBR GER GER NED NED ITA ITA 23rd 20 2010 Kawasaki AUS AUS POR POR SPA SPA NED NED ITA ITA RSA RSA USA USA SMR SMR CZE CZE GBR19 GBR19 GER GER ITA ITA FRA FRA NC 0

Grand Prix motorcycle racing By season SeasonClassMotorcycleTeamNumberRaceWinPodiumPoleFLapPtsPlcd MotoGP Kawasaki Kawasaki Racing Team 48 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC MotoGP Kawasaki Kawasaki Racing Team 48 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC MotoGP Kawasaki Kawasaki Racing Team 87 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC Total 4 0 0 0 0 0

Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pts 2002 MotoGP Kawasaki JPN RSA SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR BRA PACRet MAL AUS VAL NC 0 2003 MotoGP Kawasaki JPN18 RSA SPA FRA ITA CATRet NED GBR GER CZE POR BRA PAC MAL AUS VAL NC 0 2007 MotoGP Kawasaki QAT SPA CHN TUR FRA ITA CAT GBR NED GER USA CZE RSM POR JPN17 AUS MAL VAL NC 0

AMA Superbike Championship

All Japan Road Race Championship Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pos Pts 2026 JSB1000 Kawasaki MOT SUG1 SUG2 AUT1 AUT2 MOT1 MOT2 OKA SUZ1 SUZ2 18th* 5* Season still in progress.