Ryuichi Kiyonari

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Ryuichi Kiyonari
Ryuichi Kiyonari 2007
Nationality	Japanese
Date of birth	September 23, 1982
Place of birth	Saitama, Japan



SBK Record
Current team	Hannspree Ten Kate Honda
Bike number	23
World Championships	0
Race starts	10
Race Wins
Podium finishes	1
Pole positions
Fastest laps	1

2008 Championship position	9th (65pts)

Ryuichi Kiyonari (清成龍一, Ryuichi Kiyonari^?) (born September 23, 1982 in Saitama, Japan) is a professional motorcycle road racer. He is the 2006 and 2007 British Superbike champion, and he currently rides for Hannspree Ten Kate Honda in the Superbike World Championship. He has a reputation for being at his best when leading races from the front.

1 MotoGP
2 British Superbike Championship
3 Superbike World Championship
4 External links

[edit] MotoGP

He moved to MotoGP in early 2003 to replace late Daijiro Kato in Fausto Gresini's Telefónica Movistar team. However, he received little support within the team, especially as team-mate Sete Gibernau challenged for the title, and failed to score much in the way of results.

[edit] British Superbike Championship

After coming 6th overall in the British Superbike Championship in 2004, 'Kiyo' won the first four races of 2005, before injuring his ankle in a heavy crash in round 5. He was back for round 9, and retook the championship lead from team-mate Michael Rutter, but eventually was overhauled by the improving Ducati of Lavilla and he finished the season runner up. He also raced in the Valencia Grand Prix for Sito Pons' Camel Honda team, finishing in the points.

In 2006 Ducati again had the upper hand early in the season, with Kiyonari closest to their riders, Lavilla and Leon Haslam. A double victory at Silverstone in the penultimate round kept him in close contention for the title. However, in the double point final round at Brands Hatch, after a win in race one (he was leading when Shane Byrne's heavy crash caused a stoppage - much to Haslam's visible frustration), Kiyonari only needed to finish third in the final race. Kiyonari finished 2nd in the shortened race behind Haslam, thus winning the championship by 8 points.

The 2007 season started at Brands Hatch, a track Kiyo admits he does not like, and his results there were unspectacular, with Jonathan Rea and Leon Camier performing better on their Hondas. However, he took a double win in round three, and a further win in race 2 at Oulton Park, to lie second to Lavilla after four rounds. Finally defended his British champion status at Brands Hatch to win the championship for the second time in succession.

[edit] Superbike World Championship

In 2008 Ryuichi Kiyonari will make his Superbike World Championship debut, having reached an agreement with the World Champion team, Ten Kate Honda, to partner Carlos Checa and Kenan Sofuoglu.

In the second race at Monza, Kiyonari nearly had his first SBK win. Kiyonari was in front as they braked for the final entry into the Parabolica but went wide on the exit and Noriyuki Haga and Max Neukirchner edged him out - Haga for the win and Neukirchner claiming second by a gap of just .009. Kiyonari finished third with a gap of .051, his first Superbike podium.