Daijiro Kato,the legend motogp rider from japan

 Biography

 Kato was born in Saitama, and started racing miniature bikes at an early age, becoming a four-time national champion in the Japanese pocket-bike championship.

He began road racing in 1992, and entered his first Grand Prix in 1996, as a wild-card rider. In the 250cc class, Kato finished third after debuting at his home circuit of Suzuka Circuit. The next year, he won the Japanese Championship, and again entered the Japanese Grand Prix with a wild card, winning the race at this occasion.

In spite of these successes, Kato did not ride his first full Grand Prix season until 2000, when he started in the 250cc, riding aHonda. He won four races that season (of which two in Japan), and placed third in the championship. In 2001, he dominated the 250cc championship. He won no fewer than 11 races, a record in 250cc, and easily won the title. In that season season he set a new record for the most points in a single season in 250cc class with 322 points.

The following season, Kato moved up to the MotoGP class (formerly 500cc) racing for Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) in theFortuna Gresini Racing team. Some strong performances on the Honda NSR500 two-stroke bike in the first half of the season including second place at the 2002 Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez circuit, meant he was given a full factory supported four-strokeHonda RC211V for the rest of the season; his best result on the RC211V was a second place at the Czech Grand Prix at Brno.

For 2003, Kato remained at the Gresini team, now with sponsorship from Telefónica movistar brought by new teammate Sete Gibernau joining from Suzuki. On April 6, 2003 during the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, Kato crashed hard and sustained severe head, neck and chest injuries. He was estimated to have hit the wall near the Casio Triangle chicane of the circuit at around 125 mph (200 km/h). Kato spent two weeks in a coma following the accident before dying as a result of the injuries he sustained. The cause of death was listed as brain stem infarction.

In 2006, the Misano World Circuit honoured Kato, who lived part of the season in the area, by naming a new access road to the circuit Via Daijiro Kato. That circuit's offices are located on the road named in his memory.

Kato's #74 racing number

 

Death

On April 6, 2003, during the first race of the 2003 MotoGP season at Suzuka, Kato crashed hard and sustained severe head, neck and chest injuries. He was estimated to have hit the wall near the Casio Triangle chicane of the circuit at around 125 mph (200 km/h). Many questions were raised regarding the actions of the corner workers immediately following the crash. Kato was thrown back onto the track after hitting the wall and was lying next to the racing line [1]. Normally, when a motorcycle and/or rider are incapacitated on the race track, a red flag is waved and the race stopped so the track can be safely cleared. This did not happen following Kato's accident. Instead, the corner workers dragged his body off the track and threw him on a stretcher, actions that are not in accordance with tending to someone with suspected neck and spinal cord injuries. The race was not stopped.

Kato spent two weeks in a coma following the accident before dying as a result of the injuries he sustained. The cause of death was listed as brain stem infarction. Many of the MotoGP riders wore black armbands or placed small #74's on their leathers and bikes at the following race in South Africa to pay tribute to the fallen racer. His teammate, Sete Gibernau, has worn a #74 on his racesuit since winning the race in his memory. There has not been a Grand Prix motorcycle race held at Suzuka following Kato's crash, with safety issues at the facility being cited as the reason.

During the 2003 Suzuka 8 Hours race held that July, Honda paid tribute to Kato, a two-time Suzuka winner, by bearing his racing number on the Sakurai Honda bike of Tadayuki Okada and Chojun Kameya (who in Turn 1 crashed on spilt oil on the second lap), along with the bikes of Nicky Hayden and Atsushi Watanabe. Once Tady and the others returned to the pits with their broken bikes, the former 500cc rider was permitted to go back out with a spare bike, as a mark of respect, but was ineligible to win since his original bike was badly damaged. Two hours later, Tady returned to the pitlane to retire the bike amid mass applause from the crowd. At the end of the race, the other Sakurai bikes of Yukio Nukumi and Manabu Kamada (who were still racing), went on to the rostrum to show off Daijiro's helmet bearing his number on the visor, and a photo of him on the bike, as a mark of respect.

Afterwards the FIM retired Kato's number, and the bike number 74 has not been used by any rider since.

Racing highlights

1993

• All Kyushu Area Championship: SP250, GP125, GP250 classes.
• Ranking: Championship winner in all 3 classes.

1994

• All Japan Road Race Championship: GP250 class.
• First win at round 9 at TI Circuit in Aida, Okayama.
• Ranking: Seventh.

1995

• All Japan Road Race Championship: GP250 class.
• Ranking: Fifth.

1996

• All Japan Road Race Championship: GP250 class.
• Ranking: Second.
• Kato participated as a wild card rider at the world grand prix championship GP250 race in Japan and finished third.

1997

• All Japan Road Race Championship: GP250 class.
• Ranking: Championship winner.
• Kato again participated as a wild card rider at the world grand prix championship GP250 race in Japan and won the race.
• Kato raced the Suzuka 8 Hours in Japan and finished ninth.

1998

• All Japan Road Race Championship: GP250 class.
• Ranking: Eighth.
• Kato again participated as a wild card rider at the world grand prix championship GP250 race in Japan and won the race a second time.

1999

• All Japan Road Race Championship: GP250 class.
• Ranking: Second.

2000

• Grand Prix World Championship: GP250 class.
• Ranking: Third.
• Kato was awarded the Rookie-of-the-Year prize in the GP250 class.
• Kato, teaming with fellow Japanese rider Tohru Ukawa, won the Suzuka 8 Hours in Japan.

2001

• Grand Prix World Championship: GP250 class.
• Ranking: Championship winner.
• Kato set a new grand prix world record by winning 11 races throughout the 2001 season. He was also recognized for his efforts to the public by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Science and Technology.

2002

• Grand Prix World Championship: MotoGP/500cc class.
• Ranking: Seventh.
• Kato was awarded the Rookie-of-the-Year prize in the MotoGP/500cc class.
• Kato, this time teaming with American rider Colin Edwards, won the Suzuka 8 Hours in Japan for a second time.

2003

• Grand Prix World Championship: MotoGP class.
• Suffered a fatal crash at the first race at Suzuka.

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

SUZUKI RAIDER 150

The Suzuki Raider 150 is one of the fastest motorcycles in the underbone category.The Suzuki Raider 150R, or Suzuki Satria FU150 as it is called in Indonesia, is one of the most powerful 150cc motorcycles in the market. The Suzuki Raider 150 is a comfortable motorcycle to ride on. It is fast it has more then enough power, 16 horse power at 9500rpm, it looks good and the telescopic front and rear mono-shock swing-arm suspension make the Suzuki Raider 150 one of the best road handling bikes. 

If we compare the Suzuki Raider 150R with a Honda CBR150r, we find that the Suzuki beats the Honda on power performance, the Suzuki is lighter then the Honda and performance is equal. Also a good point is that the Suzuki Raider 150R is almost 10,000 Baht cheaper then the Honda*.

The 4 Stroke, Twin-cam 4 Valve, Air Cooled 147.3cc engine with electronic DC-CDI ignition, delivers the performance of a sporty bike the throttle response is good, thanks to the Mikuni BS 26-187 carburetor.

Suzuki uses for the engine a 62mm bore with a 48.8 stroke producing 10.2:1 compression ratio.

The Suzuki Raider 150R has a modern 6 gear, 1 down-5 up, with a short gear ratio, the transmission is in constant mesh, which means that only one of these meshed pairs of gears is locked to the shaft on which it is mounted at any one time, while the others are allowed to rotate freely. Thus, it greatly reduces the skill required to shift gears.

For brakes the Suzuki Raider 150R has both front and rear disc brakes, with light metal allow cast wheels. The Suzuki Raider 150 is equipped with 70/90-17-38S front and 80/90-17-44S rear tyres.

The Suzuki Raider 150R is almost 2 meter in length, weighs 95kg dry and the fuel tank capacity is 4.9 liters. And the Suzuki Raider 150 takes any fuel from unlead gasoline Octain '91 or higher. The Raider 150 comes with kick and electric starter.

First generation (2002–2007)

After Suzuki Raider 125 launched Thailand 2000, as the same engine and technical date of FX125 in Malaysia. The first generation Suzuki Raider 150 was assembled in Thailand ( 2002–2007). This seem to be better technical date specification than Suzuki FXR 150 refer to the shord product from Indonesia. The changed into lesser 3mm from original 29mm Carburetor size of airflow contribute more fuel injection to chamber in order to upgraded combustion speed.

The Raider was launched on 2004 in the Philippines, and two years later in Thailand.

Second generation (2006–present)

The second generation Suzuki Raider R150 was released in November 2006, with three available colors, an electric starter.

Suzuki Raider R150

Manufacturer	Suzuki
Also called	Suzuki Satria FU150 (Indonesia) Suzuki Belang R150 (Malaysia) Suzuki Raider R150 (Thailand)
Parent company	Suzuki
Production	2006 - present
Successor	Raider R150
Engine	4 Stroke, DOHC, oil-cooled, generating 16hs(factory claimed)
Transmission	6 speed 1 down 5 up
Brakes	Front: Front disc brake, Four piston caliper Rear: disc brake
Weight	(106 kg/94.5 kg empty weight in Indonesia) (dry)
Fuel capacity	4.9 L
Related	Suzuki FXR150

In Thailand

The Thailand version is different from the Philippine and Indonesian models, the main difference being the sticker and paint scheme.

In the Philippines

The Philippine version has three colorways: red, blue and black. It had also a "Raider J" variant. Its design was also copied by some motorcycle manufacturers and marketed as the "Dagger".^[.

In Indonesia

The Indonesian variant is called "Satria F150" and has three colorways available, same as in the Philippines. But in 2008, the color variation became four different tones. Also since few years ago, some secondary technical upgrade has been made (e.g., electric starter)

In Malaysia

The Raider 150 was released in 2009 for Malaysian market as the Suzuki Belang R150, with only two colours available – red and black.

SCANDAL - Japanese girl band

Scandal (スキャンダル Sukyandaru^?) (stylized as SCANDAL) is a Japanese pop rock group. Proclaiming themselves as "The Most Powerful Japanese Girlie Pop Rock", they are composed of four high school girls from Osaka, Japan: Haruna Ono, Tomomi Ogawa, Mami Sasazaki, and Rina Suzuki. Scandal is very energetic, mostly because Ono, the eldest and leader of the band, shares lead vocals with the other three members, in order to not have a focus on one girl in particular and to give each time in the limelight.

An interesting note about the group is the unique way in which they chose to promote themselves. Since they are fans of Japanese animation and manga, they wanted to be represented in animated form, turning each member into an animated character. The animated Scandal is featured on a series of promotional videos on the band's website.

Formation

In August 2006, the four girls met in an Osakan vocal and dance school called Caless.^[3] As they became friends, they decided to form Scandal, writing and playing their own songs while juggling their regular school lives. Shortly thereafter, they started performing street lives every weekend at Shiroten in Osaka Castle Park. As time went on, the group started to get offers from clubs and music halls around Osaka and Kyoto.

Eventually, over one hundred fans began to consistently attend their live performances, causing the band to become noticed more in the eyes of the Japanese public. In August 2007, Scandal seized the opportunity to participate in a special event at Shibuya Club Asia, a highly recognized and respected club in Shibuya. It was during this time that record label Kitty Records (a subsidiary of Kitty Films) first asked the four girls if they would like to have their music recorded with them. Several months later, the girls had worked out a flexible independent agreement with Kitty in partnership with Tower Records

Member Profil

 

Name: Ono Haruna

Instruments: Vocals & Rhythm Guitar

Birthday: 1988/08/10

Birthplace: Aichi Prefecture

Blood type: A

Height: 153 cm

▪ Description ▪

HARUNA, the eldest among the group and also serves as the leader. A girl who had a passion for dancing and dreamed of becoming a dancer, but things changed when she met her co-members and eventually took on a rock n’ roll path. But the influence of dance stayed, the reason why some of their PV, choreography can be seen. HARUNA has the most powerful and deep voice that usually leads in their songs combined with the voices of the other 3 members.

Name: Sasazaki Mami

Instruments: Lead Guitar & Vocal

Birthday: 1990/05/21

Birthplace: Aichi Prefecture

Blood type: AB

Height: 161 cm

▪ Description ▪

MAMI, the lead guitarist and serves that role very well. She has awesome and cool guitar skills that makes her fans more amaze. She appears serious and kinda dark in stage that is different from the other members, but it turns extremely opposite offstage – as she shows a very cheerful personality. Also among the group, she’s the biggest fan of Japanese Anime. She also has very noticeable solo parts in their songs because of her soft-punkish voice.

Name: Suzuki Rina

Instruments: Drums & Vocal

Birthday: 1991/08/21

Birthplace: Osaka

Blood type: B

Height: 160 cm

▪ Description ▪

RINA, the youngest among the group and serves as the drummer. A girl that always has a smile painted on her face when performing – showing that performing and music is nothing but love. She’s also a cheerful and bubbly person as seen in their live interviews with the reactions she shows. Also among the 4 of them, she is the most active in their blog, making sure that fans is always updated to her and the group.

Name: Ogawa Tomomi

Instruments: Bass & Vocal

Birthday: 1990/05/31

Birthplace: Hyogo Prefecture

Blood type: A

Height: 157 cm

▪ Description ▪

TOMOMI, the bass and writer of majority of their songs. Like HARUNA, she also dreamed of becoming a dancer but rock n’ roll opened a new path. Her dancing skills can be observed while performing with her amazing and graceful movements despite the fact that she is carrying a huge bass. TOMOMI has a very sweet and kinda “chipmunky” voice that is easy to like, together with HARUNA, their voices becomes a very perfect combo. She’s also the one that usually leads in solo parts of their songs.

Indie Label

In 2008, Scandal released three indie singles, all of which were exclusive to Tower Records. Their first indie single was released on March 3, 2008 in celebration of Girl's Day, which, despite being ranked second on Tower Records' "Indies Weekly Chart", sold out throughout Japan and had a hard time being kept in stock due to high demand. In an attempt to alleviate the fan's troubles in getting this album, the single was released on both the US and Japanese iTunes Music Store on April 9, 2008. Two more singles (in CD form) were released in the months following, both being ranked number 1 on the "Indies Weekly Chart". Their second single, Koi Moyō, was also designated as the Japanese iTunes Store's "Song of the Week" from April 16 to April 22, 2008.^[4]

Right after their first release, Scandal left Japan to go on their first international tour, "Japan Nite US Tour 2008", followed by two concerts at the Japanese cultural and anime convention, "Sakura-Con 2008" from March 16 to March 30. In July of the same year, they performed at France's Japan Expo and also at Hong Kong's Ani-Com in August. Scandal concluded their indie career with the release of their first mini-album, Yah! Yah! Yah! Hello Scandal.

Major Label

In early September 2008, Scandal began talks with the head of Sony Music Japan because with Kitty, their CDs were made in very limited quantities (only 2000 of each) which caused them to sell out quickly. They soon worked out a contract with Sony, who signed them on to their Epic Records label. However, due to Sony's ongoing disagreements with Apple Inc. over their iTunes Music Store and Sony's own Mora, the band's music which was formerly available on iTunes, was quickly removed from both the US and Japanese iTunes stores.

In October, they released their major debut single, entitled "Doll". It gave them more exposure, including appearances on mainstream music television shows like Music Station. They released "Sakura Goodbye" in March 2009 to commemorate Mami and Tomomi's high school graduation.^[5] The following month, "Shōjo S" was used as the tenth opening of the anime series Bleach This brought their popularity up even higher, as the single ranked #6 on the Oricon charts when it was released two months later in June.^[6]

On October 14, Scandal released "Yumemiru Tsubasa" and their first album, Best Scandal, a week later. The album ranked #5 on the Oricon weekly chart, making them the first Japanese girl band since ZONE to have a debut album chart in the top five.^[7] On December 30, 2009, the 51st Japan Record Awards was held, of which Scandal was nominated for Best New Artist. In the end, they were voted runner-up to Korean boy band Big Bang.

2010 was a busy year for the group. Their single, "Shunkan Sentimental" was released, in which the title song was used as the fourth ending theme of the anime series Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. In June, the band released their single, "Taiyō to Kimi ga Egaku Story", and their first live concert DVD, Scandal First Live -Best Scandal 2009-. They released another single a month later, entitled "Namida no Regret", followed by their second album, Temptation Box. Scandal released another single on October 6, 2010 titled "Scandal Nanka Buttobase". It ranked #3 on the Oricon weekly chart, the highest ranking of any singles they've released so far.

Discography

Singles

#	Title	Release date	Sold copies	DVD Footage	Notes
1	"Space Ranger" (スペースレンジャー?)	March 3, 2008	401	Footage of Scandal on tour, with "Space Ranger" as background music.
2	"Koi Moyō" (恋模様?, "Love Pattern")	April 4, 2008	686	Footage of Scandal on tour and recording session of Space Ranger in home studio
3	"Kagerō" (カゲロウ?, "Dragon Fly")	May 5, 2008	586	Japanese anime-style PV of "Koi Moyō"
4	"Doll"	October 22, 2008	12,572	Instrumental version of the PV for "Doll", with onscreen kanji for karaoke. Also has voice overs of the band cheering for the viewer to sing along.	Major label debut single.
5	"Sakura Goodbye" (SAKURA グッバイ?)	March 4, 2009	6,995	US tour footage, including Japan Nite 2008 and Sakura-Con 2008. Also includes personal commentary/reflection.	Prior to Haruna's graduation from high school, the title song was known simply as "Sakura" and had slightly different lyrics than the studio recording.
6	"Shōjo S" (少女S?, "Girls")[12]	June 17, 2009	33,881	N/A	The 10th opening theme for the anime Bleach.
7	"Yumemiru Tsubasa" (夢見るつばさ?, "Dreaming Wings")	October 14, 2009	7,450	N/A	Contains the tracks "Daydream" (previously featured on the Judy and Mary Tribute album) and "Beauteen"
8	"Shunkan Sentimental" (瞬間センチメンタル?, "Sentimental Moment")	February 3, 2010	28,838	N/A	The 4th ending theme for the anime Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. The limited edition has the shortened TV Size version of the title song as a bonus track.
9	"Taiyō to Kimi ga Egaku Story" (太陽と君が描くSTORY?, "The Story That You and the Sun Drew")	June 2, 2010	12,359	N/A	Track 2 features the Loups=Garous insert song, "Koshi-Tantan."
10	"Namida no Regret" (涙のリグレット?, "Tears of Regret")	July 28, 2010	11,764	N/A	SCANDAL's first ballad.
11	"Scandal Nanka Buttobase" (スキャンダルなんかブッ飛ばせ?)	October 6, 2010	31,578	Limited edition A: Live performance of "Namida no Regret" Limited edition B: Live performance of "Taiyō to Kimi ga Egaku Story" Limited edition C: Live performance of "Shunkan Sentimental." Portions of these live performances were featured on the band's short television program, "Shiteki Ongaku Jiyou".	Ranked #3 on Oricon chart
12	"Pride"[13]	February 9, 2011	24,565	N/A	The title song was used as the second ending theme for the anime series, "Star Driver: Kagayaki no Takuto".
13	"Haruka" (ハルカ "Distant"?)[14]	April 20, 2011	N/A	N/A	The title song was used as the theme song for the anime film, "Tofu Kozo".

Mini-Albums

#	Title	Release date	Sold copies
1	Yah! Yah! Yah! Hello Scandal	August 8, 2008	1,736
2	R-Girl's Rock!	November 17, 2010	19,908

Albums

#	Title	Release date	Sold copies	DVD Footage	Notes
1	Best Scandal	October 21, 2009	52,956	Original PVs for "Space Ranger", "Koi Moyō", "Doll", "Sakura Goodbye", "Shōjo S", and "Yumemiru Tsubasa". Also has "Making-of" featurettes for "Shōjo S" and "Yumemiru Tsubasa" and digest videos of the bands 2008 gigs in the USA and Europe.	Debuted at #5
2	Temptation Box	August 11, 2010	60,301	Digest movie of the bands Spring 2010 Japanese tour and highlights of the first two "Scandal Summit" internet TV shows.	The song, "Hi-Hi-Hi" was used as a tie-in for the Japanese online game "ELSWORD". It was also featured in-game.

Compilations

Title	Release date	Details
Star Ocean: Second Evolution Original Soundtrack	May 2, 2008	The theme song of the game, "Start", is the first track on Disc 1.
Judy and Mary 15th Anniversary Tribute Album	March 18, 2009	"Daydream" is track 8.

DVD

Title	Release date	Sold copies	Details
Scandal First Live -Best Scandal 2009-	June 30, 2010	11,107	First live concert released on DVD.
Everybody Say Yeah! -Temptation Box Tour 2010- Zepp Tokyo	March 16, 2011	10,457	Live DVD of Scandal featuring the band's "Temptation Box Tour 2010" performance at Zepp Tokyo.

Unreleased Songs

Scandal has a number of songs which have only been performed in concert, not appearing on any of their commercial releases.

Original

"Play-Boy": Performed live during their 2008 American tour and at Japan Expo 2008. It was also published on their MySpace page, but was deleted shortly thereafter.

"Scandal no Theme" (SCANDALのテーマ Scandal's Theme^?): Performed during their 2008 American tour, their televised Mezamashi Live in August 2009, and their first one-man tour in December 2009.^[15]

Covers

"Don't Say "Lazy"" the ending theme to the first season of K-On!. Performed on the Music Japan Shinseiki Anisong SP in August 2009.^[16] and Performed on ANIMAX MUSIX – Fall 2010 featuring Shoko Nakagawa.^[17]

"Time Machine ni Onegai" (タイムマシンにお願い Please Use Your Time Machine^?): Originally performed in early 2006, as the band was just beginning their career,^[18] it was performed again at their one-year anniversary acoustic live in October 2009^[19] and during their first one-man tour in December 2009. It is a Sadistic Mika Band cover and was a tribute to the lateKazuhiko Kato (a member of that band).

"Secret Base": Originally performed by Zone.

source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandal_(Japanese_band)

Video: