James Toseland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
James Toseland (born 5 October 1980 in Kiveton Park, Sheffield, South Yorkshire), is an English motorcycle racer who won the 2004 World Superbike championship on a Ducati.
Toseland started his career in the UK in the Superteen series but sprang to prominence in the late nineties when he dominated the Honda CB500 cup series as a 17 year old. He was picked up to ride a Supersport Honda and won races at national level. As a result he was signed to the factory Honda World Supersport squad where he rode for two years with up and down results and a host of big injuries.
He joined the British Superbikes series in 2000, riding for Paul Bird's Vimto-sponsored team and getting good results on a Honda VTR. The following season, he joined the GSE team to partner Neil Hodgson in World Superbike, at the age 20. Having never taken a top 5 finish in either British Superbikes or World Supersport, he was not initially as competitive as Hodgson. But by late 2002 he was challenging for top-5 results in World Superbike, taking 7th place overall that year. In 2003 the team was more competitive than ever, allowing James to take his first win at Oschersleben, 3rd in the championship.
In 2004 he joined the factory Ducati team as second rider to the experienced Regis Laconi, but his competitivness meant that he pipped Laconi and Chris Vermeulen to the title at the final meeting of the season. 2005 proved to be more of a struggle for Toseland, with a lack of team support as well as the returning Suzuki and Yamaha teams, and the improving Honda camp of five riders including Chris Vermeulen and Pierfrancesco Chili. This combination of factors ended the domination of Ducati, as Troy Corser took the championship on a Suzuki, while Toseland finished 5th.
For 2006 Toseland switched to the Winston Ten Kate Honda racing team, replacing the MotoGP-bound Vermeulen, where he rode alongside Australian Karl Muggeridge. He won the season-opener in Qatar, and finished 2nd in the championship behind Troy Bayliss. He nearly replaced an injured Toni Elías for the Fortuna Honda team for a MotoGP one-off, but this didn't happen for sponsor-related reasons.
In 2007 Toseland remains in WSBK with Ten Kate Honda, despite a firm offer from the D'Antin team to ride MotoGP. Toseland posted a first/second combination in both the first race in Qatar[1], as well as Philip Island Australia[2], to presently lead the WSB championship table.
[edit] References
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/motorbikes/6383457.stm
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/motorbikes/6410673.stm
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Neil Hodgson |
World Superbike Champion 2004 |
Succeeded by Troy Corser |
