Haga, Kagayama, Yanagawa: three Superbike legends return to the track for a race!

They have known each other for over thirty years, have challenged each other multiple times in the Superbike World Championship and at the Suzuka 8 Hours and, like in the good old days, as Over 50s they will race against each other once again. Noriyuki Haga, Yukio Kagayama and Akira Yanagawa will don suits, gloves, helmets and boots again on June 21 in Tsukuba, taking part in the All Japan JP Sport race (the former JP250, essentially Japan’s Supersport 300) for an extraordinary appearance in a fully fledged race aimed at promoting motorcycling in the Land of the Rising Sun.

It all started from an idea by SDG (Showa Denki Group), a company producing fans, air conditioners and more, actively involved in motorcycling and sponsoring several Japanese teams and riders competing internationally. During the Tsukuba round, the fourth event of the All Japan Road Race Championship season, the JP Sports race will host the “SDG Masters 50 Cup,” which will see Noriyuki Haga, Yukio Kagayama and Akira Yanagawa go head-to-head, along with two other Japanese two-wheel icons of the caliber of Kenichiro Kikuchi and Masayoshi Kobayashi, protagonists at home in the 1980s and ’90s.

All five are Over 50, and their participation in the race is not meant to steal the spotlight from the very young competitors. On the contrary: their illustrious names and SDG’s support will provide a showcase for all the promising talents of All Japan motorcycling, so much so that the top three Under-22 finishers will also receive an exceptional cash bonus expressly designated for this race. The goal is to draw attention to the JP-SPORT class and the young starters, clearly leveraging the pull of these legends who will return, for once, to do battle on track.

It will certainly be evocative to see riders back in action who have written the history of the Superbike World Championship and the Suzuka 8 Hours. Noriyuki Haga (51) will do so on a Yamaha R3, his friend Yukio Kagayama (52) on a Honda CBR 250RR, while Akira Yanagawa (54) will ride a Kawasaki ZX-25R. The latter, moreover, recently attended the All Japan Superbike round at AUTOPOLIS, still showing blistering speed aboard a Kawasaki ZX-10RR.