Skip to main content
Home

MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

... that upgrading a website takes longer than you think

User Menu

  • Log in

Tools

  • Home
    • Contact
  • Subscriber Content
  • Round Ups
  • Features
    • Analysis
    • Interviews
    • Opinion
  • Photos
  • More
    • Search
    • Riders & Teams
      • 2023 MotoGP Rider Line Up So Far
      • 2022 Provisional MotoGP Rider Line Up
      • 2022 Provisional Moto2 Rider Line Up
      • 2022 Provisional Moto3 Rider Line Up
    • Calendars
      • 2022 Provisional MotoGP Calendar
      • 2022 Provisional WorldSBK Calendar
      • 2023 Provisional WorldSBK Calendar
    • Championship Standings
      • MotoGP Standings
      • Moto2 Standings
      • Moto3 Standings
      • MotoE Standings
      • WorldSBK Standings
      • WorldSSP Standings
    • Race Results
      • MotoGP Race Results
      • Moto2 Race Results
      • Moto3 Race Results
      • MotoE Race Results
      • WorldSBK Race Results
      • WorldSSP Race Results
  • Subscribe!
  • Patreon
  • Old Forums

Breadcrumb

  • Home

250

Nobuatsu Aoki On Retirement, Recovering From Cancer, Developing Suzuki's MotoGP Bike, And Teammate Jeremy McWilliams

By Akira Nishimura | Sun, 14/08/2022 - 22:17

Nobuatsu Aoki finished his road racing career as a rider at the 2022 Suzuka 8 Hours Race at the age of fifty. As the eldest of well-known Aoki three brothers, Nobu had already shown his potential in the All Japan Road Race Championship when he was a teenager back in the early 1990s. Soon after, he moved up to the 250cc grand prix class, and took an impressive victory in Malaysia in 1993. Then in 1997, he stepped up to the 500cc class to ride for Honda NSR500. He also experienced the dawn of the 4-stroke MotoGP era in Proton KR team before becoming a test rider for Suzuki.

Backed by rich experience, knowledge, and skill, his words are always full of deep insight. And his sense of humor adds a unique flavor to them. We spoke with Nobu for an hour-long interview at Suzuka Circuit on Thursday evening, the day before his last race weekend started.

Q: First of all, could you tell us a little bit about the reason why you have decided to retire from racing?

NA: The reason? Nothing but my age! Unfortunately, when you get old, your body doesn’t respond as it used to. Although I have always been training very hard, in my late 30s, I felt something changed in my body. Then, when you turned forty, that strange feeling started growing even more. For sure, I still think I am still young like a teenager. However, if you train hard like a teenager and ignore your age, you can very easily end up with an injury in training. You run very hard, you lift a heavy barbell like you used to do, then you pull your muscles or injure your joint!

  • Read more about Nobuatsu Aoki On Retirement, Recovering From Cancer, Developing Suzuki's MotoGP Bike, And Teammate Jeremy McWilliams
  • 14 comments
  • Log in or register to post comments

2010 – 2019: MotoGP's Long Decade Of Change, And What It Means For The Future

By David Emmett | Thu, 09/01/2020 - 12:58

2020 sees the start of a new decade (convention has it that decades are zero-based, going from 0-9, so please, numerical pedants, just play along here), and if there is one thing we have learned from the period between 2010 and 2019, it is that a lot can change. Not just politically and socially, but in racing too. So now seems a good time to take a look back at the start of the previous decade, and ponder what lessons might be learned for the decade to come.

It is hard to remember just how tough a place MotoGP was in 2010. The world was still reeling from the impact of the Global Financial Crisis caused when the banking system collapsed at the end of 2008. That led to a shrinking grid, with Kawasaki pulling out at the end of 2008 (though the Japanese factory was forced to continue for one more season under the Hayate banner, with one rider, Marco Melandri), and emergency measures aimed at cutting costs.

The bikes entered in the 2010 MotoGP season

  • Read more about 2010 – 2019: MotoGP's Long Decade Of Change, And What It Means For The Future
  • 18 comments
  • Log in or register to post comments

Former 250cc Star Ralf Waldmann Dies

By David Emmett | Mon, 12/03/2018 - 00:05

Ralf Waldmann, former superstar of the 250cc class, has died at the age of 51 years of age. The immensely popular German rider was found dead near his parents home after apparently suffering a heart attack. 

Waldmann was one of the best 250cc racers never to win a title. The German was a ferocious competitor throughout the 1990s, taking on such greats as Max Biaggi, Loris Capirossi, Daijiro Katoh, Tohru Ukawa, Tetsuya Harada, and Olivier Jacque. Waldmann never managed to win a title, though he finished runner up to Max Biaggi twice.

The German tried his luck in the 500cc class in 1998, though he did not meet with the same success. He finished fourteenth on the Modenas KR3 triple. 

  • Read more about Former 250cc Star Ralf Waldmann Dies
  • 8 comments
  • Log in or register to post comments

2016 Argentina Saturday Round Up: A look at Argentina, and Tire Challenges

By David Emmett | Sun, 03/04/2016 - 03:34

We have been here before, of course. The history of problems with spec tires is long and varied. In 2012, at Assen, the tires of several riders, including Valentino Rossi and Ben Spies, ended up losing chunks, causing huge problems in the race. The cold tire highsides of 2009 and 2010, which saw Hiroshi Aoyama crack a couple of vertebrae, an injury which ended his career as a competitive racer, and Valentino Rossi break his leg, forcing him to miss a race for the first time in his career. And of course the debacle at Phillip Island in 2013, when Bridgestone discovered that the tires they had brought could not cope with the stresses imposed by the new, much faster surface, forcing Race Direction to grant themselves new emergency powers, cut the race to two thirds' distance, and impose a mandatory pit stop.

  • Read more about 2016 Argentina Saturday Round Up: A look at Argentina, and Tire Challenges
  • 5 comments
  • Log in or register to post comments

Guest Blog: Mat Oxley - Dorna's mistakes

By Mat Oxley | Tue, 01/03/2016 - 14:00

MotoMatters.com is delighted to feature the work of iconic MotoGP writer Mat Oxley. Oxley is a former racer, TT winner and highly respected author of biographies of world champions Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi, and currently writes for Motor Sport Magazine, where he is MotoGP correspondent. We are featuring sections from Oxley's blogs, which are posted in full on the Motor Sport Magazine website.


Dorna’s mistakes

  • Read more about Guest Blog: Mat Oxley - Dorna's mistakes
  • 11 comments
  • Log in or register to post comments

Honda Press Release: A History Of Racing Brothers

By Press Release | Sat, 08/11/2014 - 18:47

With the prospect of Alex Marquez wrapping up the Moto3 title at Valencia, Honda issued a press release looking back at the history of brothers in racing:

  • Read more about Honda Press Release: A History Of Racing Brothers
  • 1 comment
  • Log in or register to post comments

Guest Blog: Mat Oxley - "The difference between idiot and hero is very small"

By Mat Oxley | Wed, 01/10/2014 - 11:59

MotoMatters.com is delighted to feature the work of iconic MotoGP writer Mat Oxley. Oxley is a former racer, TT winner and highly respected author of biographies of world champions Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi, and currently writes for Motor Sport Magazine, where he is MotoGP correspondent. We are featuring sections from Oxley's blogs, which are posted in full on the Motor Sport Magazine website.


“The difference between idiot and hero is very small”

  • Read more about Guest Blog: Mat Oxley - "The difference between idiot and hero is very small"
  • 6 comments
  • Log in or register to post comments

Guest Blog: Mat Oxley: Inside the mind of Casey Stoner

By Mat Oxley | Wed, 15/01/2014 - 11:40

MotoMatters.com is delighted to feature the work of iconic MotoGP writer Mat Oxley. Oxley is a former racer, TT winner and highly respected author of biographies of world champions Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi, and currently writes for Motor Sport Magazine, where he is MotoGP correspondent. We are featuring sections from Oxley's blogs, which are posted in full on the Motor Sport Magazine website.


Inside the mind of Casey Stoner

  • Read more about Guest Blog: Mat Oxley: Inside the mind of Casey Stoner
  • 24 comments
  • Log in or register to post comments

Is Spanish domination Good For Grand Prix racing?

By Venancio Luis Nieto | Wed, 12/09/2012 - 23:02

Coming into the last lap of 2012 Czech Republic Grand Prix many fans fell back in love with MotoGP series. It does not happen very often, but victory at Brno was still to be decided with just a single lap to go. Spaniards Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo were pushing each other using not just every MotoGP riding trick they had, but also everything they learnt since the pair were still young and wild 125 class riders.

If you are a true road racing enthusiast and love the action on the track, whatever the national flag a race winner may be carrying on the lap of honor, I am sure you really enjoined the battle at Brno between Pedrosa and Lorenzo. After all, if watching a MotoGP bike and rider perform at their maximum is a pleasure on its own, watching two fighting for victory on the last lap definitely brings some glorious memories back, including Roberts-Spencer, Gardner-Lawson, Rainey-Schwantz, Doohan-Crivillé or Rossi-Biaggi as some of the toughest encounters on the track.

The battle between Pedrosa and Lorenzo at Brno was great racing but, with the unfortunate absence of Casey Stoner and the Aussie’s plans to retire at the end of 2012 season, this battle left the pinnacle of road racing in the hands of Spanish riders too, as has been happening with Moto2, 125 or Moto3 series in the last few years.

  • Read more about Is Spanish domination Good For Grand Prix racing?
  • 22 comments
  • Log in or register to post comments

HRC History: Honda Explains The Photos On Display In The Paddock

By David Emmett | Wed, 31/08/2011 - 17:37

As a journalist, one of the less glamorous parts of the weekend is spent waiting around to talk to riders.

  • Read more about HRC History: Honda Explains The Photos On Display In The Paddock
  • 27 comments
  • Log in or register to post comments

Pagination

  • Page 1
  • Next page ››
Subscribe to 250

Log In or Register

  • Create new account
  • Reset your password

MotoGP.com latest

  • How to follow the 2023 Sepang MotoGP™ Test
  • Pirro puts Ducati on top as Shakedown Test ends
  • What can we expect from 2023's MotoGP™ sophomores?
  • Yamaha top as rain affects testing schedules on Day 2
More

Follow MotoMatters on Twitter


Mastodon

MotoGP Technology

Buy Neil Spalding's essential guide to the technology of MotoGP bikes, MotoGP Technology.

Recent comments

  • It looks like BT now want 90…
    9 hours 29 minutes ago
  • Say it isn't so...
    17 hours 45 minutes ago
  • Thanks for the info about…
    20 hours ago
  • I think it is me needing to…
    20 hours 27 minutes ago
  • Changing text size
    21 hours 42 minutes ago

All content copyright of MotoMatters.com unless otherwise stated. MotoGP is a trademark of Dorna Sports s.l. and MotoMatters.com is not associated with it.

Site hosted by