Masato Kawabata

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Masato Kawabata
Kawabata (left) with Maciej Polody, Silverstone Circuit, June 2006
Nationality	Japan
Date of Birth	October 15, 1977 (1977-10-15) (age 30)
Place of Birth	Osaka, Osaka Prefecture
2008 D1 Grand Prix
Debut season	2002
Current team	GP Sports & Toyo Tires
Championship titles
2007	1

Masato Kawabata (川畑真人, Kawabata Masato^?, 15 October 1977, Osaka) is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for Team Toyo.

Contents 1 Biography 2 2007 Fuji Speedway accident 3 Complete Drifting Results 3.1 D1 Grand Prix 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Biography

He was interested in cars from an early age, and as soon he got his drivers licence he purchased a Nissan 180SX and began practising drifting techniques. He studied Keiichi Tsuchiya's 'Drift Bible' and learnt fast, soon he was ready to take his drifting to the race track where he met D1 driver Atsushi Kuroi who gave him plenty of advice on how to improve. At 19 entered his first drift competition against his mentor Kuroi and to everyones surprise he won. When he was 21 he was scouted by the president of tuning company GP Sports who sponsored him until 2003 when he was offered a job testing for them. He then he left Osaka to set up home in Niigata where the company is based. He currently reside there in an apartment with his wife, who he married at 20, and his two daughters and is still employed by them today as an advisor and is currently Driving a Nissan Silvia S15 for Toyo and GP Sports.

Kawabata took his first win at Fuji Speedway in 2006^[1] and went on to finish 4th in the overall points. In 2007 he did even better however winning two rounds and the overall title by one point over Nobushige Kumakubo.

[edit] 2007 Fuji Speedway accident

In 2007, at round 2, held in Fuji Speedway, during a tsuiou round against Daigo Saito, Saito dipped into the inner apex of the 300R corner, causing his car to understeer and collecting Kawabata's Silvia onto the tyre barrier in the process, severely destroyed both cars. Kawabata had to be taken to hospital for treatment for whiplash injuries. He won the round which he was unable to continue, leaving Atsushi Kuroi without an opponent. For the following round, he returned with a new car and took the win at the next round at Sportsland SUGO.^[2][3]

[edit] Complete Drifting Results

(key)

[edit] D1 Grand Prix

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Position	Points
2002		Nissan 180SX	BHH DNQ	EBS DNQ	EBS DNQ	SGO TAN	TKB TAN	SEK DNQ	NIK DNQ			0
2003	Silk Road	Nissan 180SX	TKB TAN	BHH TAN	SGO TAN	FUJ TAN	EBS TAN	SEK DNQ	TKB TAN			0
2004	Silk Road	Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86	IRW TAN								23	4
	GReddy/GP Sports/Toyo Tires	Nissan Silvia S15		SGO TAN	EBS TAN	APS 9	ODB TAN	EBS 11	TKB TAN
2005	GReddy/GP Sports/Toyo Tires	Nissan Silvia S15	IRW 11	ODB 4	SGO 9	APS 7	EBS TAN	FUJ 3	TKB 5		4	55
2006	GReddy/GP Sports/Toyo Tires	Nissan Silvia S15	IRW 5	SGO 11	FUJ 6	APS TAN	EBS 4	SUZ 8	FUJ 1	IRW 11	4	69
2007	GP Sports/Toyo Tires	Nissan Silvia S15	EBS 2	FUJ 4	SUZ 6	SGO 1	EBS 5	APS 1	FUJ 11		1	100
2008	GP Sports/Toyo Tires	Nissan Silvia S15	EBS 1	FUJ	SUZ	OKY	APS	EBS	FUJ		1	21

[edit] References

1. ^ [ D1GP/D1SL NEWS REPORT J.D.M. OPTION INTERNATIONAL (2006)]
2. ^ [ D1GP/D1SL NEWS REPORT J.D.M. OPTION INTERNATIONAL (2007)]
3. ^ YouTube - Broadcast Yourself

[edit] External links

• JDM Option
• Employer's site
• D1 Supporter profile

Preceded by Nobushige Kumakubo

D1 Grand Prix Champion 2007

Succeeded by incumbent