James Toseland

James Michael Toseland (born 5 October 1980 in Doncaster,^[1] South Yorkshire) is an English former motorcycle racer. Toseland was the 2007 World Superbike Champion on a Ten Kate Honda,^[2] who also won the 2004 Superbike World Championship on a Ducati. He is one of only two men, the other being Troy Corser, to have won the Superbike World Championship for two different manufacturers. On 9th September 2011 he officially retired from professional motorsport due to a wrist injury sustained in March 2011 at an official World Superbike Championship testing session at Motorland Aragon, Spain.^[3]

Toseland is also a pianist (reaching Grade 6) and singer who performs regularly with his band "Crash" when not at home in the Isle of Man,^[1] Toseland performed alongside Ray Stubbs for BBC's Sport Relief, as well as playing a piano set at the British sports personality of the year awards 2007.

Biography

Born in Doncaster,^[1] his parents separated and James was raised by his mother in Kiveton Park in Rotherham.^[4] After his mother started a relationship with Ken Wright, James accepted him as his default father figure, and began taking interest in Ken's hobbies. James started taking piano lessons aged eight, taught by a professional pianist; while he also started riding motocross bikes on the coal slag heaps close to his home.^[4] Toseland was taught from Year 7 to Year 11 at Wales High School located in Kiveton Park.

While his mother struggled with income, Ken and James would attend Junior trials and motocross events across the UK. After his mother's relationship with Ken started breaking down in his early teens, James chose to support his depressed mother and ended his relationship with Ken after he broke up with his mother - Ken later committed suicide.^[4] Toseland kept up his piano lessons achieving Grade 6 - not enough for him to gain a place at the London College of Music.^[4]

Motorcycle racing career

Transferring his motorcycle career from off-road to road racing after Ken's death, Toseland quickly worked his way up through the ranks becoming 1995 Junior Road Race Champion and moving on to 125cc racing in the UK Superteen series and sprang to prominence in the late nineties when he dominated the Honda CB500 Cup series aged 17. He was picked up to ride a Supersport Honda and won races at national level.

World Supersport 1998-1999

As a result he was signed to the factory Castrol Honda World Supersport squad where he rode for two years finishing 18th and 11th in the championship with best results of 8th in his first year and 6th in the first round of the second year.

British Superbikes 2000

He joined the British Superbike Championship series in 2000, riding for Paul Bird's Vimto-sponsored team on a Honda VTR He contested the first seven rounds, missing four more through injury, and over the course of these picked up 101 points. Altogether, this placed him 12th in the championship, results included seven in the top eight, with sixth place in two separate Oulton Park meetings.^[5]

Superbike World Championship

2001-2003

In 2001 aged 20, Toseland joined the GSE team to partner Neil Hodgson in World Superbikes. Having never taken a top 5 finish in either the British Superbike Championship or the Supersport World Championship, he was not initially as competitive as Neil Hodgson. But by late 2002 he was challenging for top 5 results and took 7th place overall that year. In 2003 the team was more competitive than ever, allowing James to take his first win at Oschersleben and 3rd in the championship.

2004

In 2004 After Both Neil Hodgson and Ruben Xaus left World Superbikes to race in MotoGP, Toseland joined the factory Fila Ducati team as second rider to the experienced Regis Laconi,racing the dominant 999 F04 motorcycle. Toseland put together a consistent series to stay with Regis Laconi all the way, and ahead at several stages. The final races at Magny-Cours saw the youngster out-ride his experienced team-mate, giving Toseland the title by a nine point margin. A final tally of 336 included three wins and eleven other podium results

2005

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,^[4] and the improving Honda camp of five riders including Chris Vermeulen and Pierfrancesco Chili. This combination of factors ended the domination of Ducati, and Troy Corser took the championship on a Suzuki, with Toseland finishing 4th.

2006

For 2006 Toseland switched to the Winston Ten Kate Racing Honda racing team, replacing the MotoGP-bound Chris 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 was contacted to replaced injured Toni Elías for the Fortuna Honda team for a one-off appearance in MotoGP, but this did not happen for sponsor-related reasons.

Toseland was linked to the D'antin Ducati satellite team in MotoGP in 2006, and received an offer to ride for them in 2007. D'antin have not performed well in recent years however, and Toseland turned the offer down, not willing to make up the grid on a bike that wasn't competitive.

2007

Toseland remained in WSBK for 2007 with Ten Kate Racing Honda, despite a firm offer from the Pramac d'Antin team to race in MotoGP. Toseland posted a first/second combination at the first meeting in Qatar,^[6] and at Philip Island.^[7] He won one race in each of the first five meetings of the year. At Assen he almost took a pair of wins but he was passed by Bayliss, losing by 0.009 seconds. Toseland won his first ever World Superbike double at Brands Hatch on August 5 giving him a 66 point lead in the championship. In the final race at Magny-Cours, he claimed the 2007 World Superbike title with a pole position, seventh position in Race 1, and a sixth place in Race 2, to leave him 2 points ahead of Japan's Noriyuki Haga.^[2]

Sports Personality of the Year 2007

Toseland was nominated for the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year 2007 award and came fourth, 710 votes behind Ricky Hatton. He demonstrated his piano-playing abilities in the ceremony, performing a specially written blues/jazz piece. Toseland was however voted as the 2007 BBC Yorkshire Sports Personality of the Year.

MotoGP

2008

Toseland was again linked with the Pramac d'Antin MotoGP team, although rumours had also abounded of a ride with a Honda outfit, and even of Ten Kate Racing making the step up to the premier class and taking Toseland with them. But eventually Toseland confirmed a move to MotoGP for 2008 on 1 August 2007 when he announced that he had signed a one-year contract with factory supported Yamaha team Tech 3.^[8] For 2008 Tech 3 switched from Dunlop to Michelin tyres it was also confirmed that Toseland's teammate would be Colin Edwards. Toseland signed a deal with British leather company BKS to supply him with suits whilst competing in the 2008 MotoGP world championship. James & BKS have now parted company after only 3 races in 2011 after very poor results. James has now signed with "Sypke" leathers.^[9]

Facing eight unknown tracks, Toseland had reason to expect a tough season [1], but he was immediately more competitive than expected. He qualified in second place and finished sixth in the opening race in Qatar on 9 March 2008.^[10]

He then qualified in 8th place and finished sixth in Jerez on 30 March despite suffering from bronchitis.

Toseland shrugged off criticism from fellow MotoGP riders about his aggressive riding style. Chris Vermeulen, Andrea Dovizioso and Casey Stoner were all vocal in their displeasure of Toseland's aggressive overtaking moves. James downplayed the talk and stated that his moves were "hard but fair", and that it was his job to overtake his rivals when he had the chance to do so.^[11]

Before the British MotoGP round at Donington Park, Toseland said that if he were the first Briton to win in 27 years at the top level that he would strip naked on the ride back to the pits.^[12] However, he crashed in the first corner of the race, but picked his bike up to finish in 17th place, his worst finish of the season to that point, over a lap behind the winner Casey Stoner.

Toseland struggled through the middle part of the season for top 10 finishes, achieving two 9th places (Holland and the United States). One of James's better showings was at Brno where he finished 13th, ahead of his team mate Colin Edwards. Amidst Bridgestone dominance he was the third-highest finisher on Michelin tires, the first being Andrea Dovizioso placed in 9th. At Phillip Island he ran 3rd for a while but ultimately faded to 6th after frantic battles with the works Yamahas of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, plus Dovizioso and Shinya Nakano.

Overall Toseland had a very mixed first year in the Moto GP class, finishing 11th overall in the championship with 105 points. Inconsistency was one of the main problems, with Toseland unable to record regular top 10 results despite having only 2 DNF's.

2009

It was confirmed that Toseland would stay on for 2009 with the Tech 3 Yamaha team, racing alongside Colin Edwards as he did in 2008, after the team extended Toseland's initial contract after two races of the 2008 season. Yamaha have also decided to continue their relationship with the Tech 3 brand through to 2010.^[13]

In pre-season testing Toseland suffered two major accidents, one of them resulting in him being diagnosed with a concussion.^[14] The start of the season was difficult for Toseland as he could not find a bike setup that was comfortable. In 2008 Toseland had been unhappy with the communication with his engineer and his complaints led to a switch of crew chief with team-mate Colin Edwards. Edwards resented this change and refused to speak with Toseland for the early rounds of the season.^[15] Despite the change in crew chief Toseland only finished ahead of Edwards in two races for the year. Toseland also received jump-start penalties at the Laguna Seca and Phillip Island rounds, the former resulting in a disqualification.^[16]

On 1 October 2009, Yamaha officially confirmed that Spies will join Yamaha Tech 3 to ride in the 2010 MotoGP Championship, taking Toseland's place in the team.^[17] It was announced before the Portuguese GP that Toseland would return to the Superbike World Championship.^[18]

Return to Superbike World Championship

2010

After losing his place at Tech 3 Yamaha to Ben Spies, Toseland took over Spies' place at the Sterilgarda Yamaha World Superbike team for the 2010 Superbike World Championship season. His teammate was fellow British rider Cal Crutchlow.^[19] Toseland struggled to adapt to the new bike early in the season, only gaining 4 podiums going into the last two rounds of the season.

2011

For 2011, after being offered a return to Ten Kate Honda, he signed for the factory-backed BMW Motorrad Italia Team, aboard the BMW S1000RR.^[20]

Retirement

On September 9th 2011, James Toseland confirmed that following the wrist injury sustained during a crash at Aragon in Spain he will retire immediately.^[21]

Career statistics

Notes
Stats correct as of 9 September 2011
(*)= Season in progress
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

All Time

Supersport World Championship

Superbike World Championship

Grand Prix motorcycle racing results

References

External links

• Official James Toseland website
• James Toseland video interview