James Michael Toseland (born
5 October 1980 in Doncaster
, South
Yorkshire
is an
British motorcycle racer. Toseland
was the
World
Superbike Champion on a
Ten Kate
Honda, who also won the
Superbike World Championship on
a
Ducati. Toseland is currently
competing in
Moto GP for the
Yamaha Tech 3 team.
As well as
being a motorcyclist, 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
, 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, his parents separated and James was raised by his
mother in Kiveton
Park
in Rotherham
. 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.
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.
Toseland kept up his
piano lessons achieving Grade 6 - not
enough for him to gain a place at the London College
of Music
.
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.
Superbike World Championship
2001-2003
In 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 Hodgson. But by late he was
challenging for top 5 results and took 7th place overall that year.
In the
team was more competitive than ever, allowing James to take his
first win at Oschersleben
and 3rd in the championship.
2004
In 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
proved to be more of a struggle for Toseland, with a lack of team support as well as the returning Suzuki and Yamaha teams, 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 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 didn't 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
James Toseland at WK SBK Assen
2007
Toseland remained in
WSBK for 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 , and at Philip
Island
. 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.
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. For 2008
Tech 3 switched from
Dunlop to
Michelin
tyres it was also confirmed that Toseland's teammate would be
Colin Edwards. Toseland has signed a
deal with British leather company BKS to supply him with suits
whilst competing in the 2008 MotoGP world championship.
Facing eight unknown tracks, Toseland had reason to expect a tough
season
[179581], but he was immediately more
competitive than expected. He qualified in second place and
finished sixth in the opening race in Qatar on the 9th March
2008.
He then qualified in 8th place and finished sixth in Jerez on the
30th March despite suffering from bronchitis.
Toseland has shrugged off criticism from fellow MotoGP riders about
his aggressive riding style.
Chris
Vermeulen,
Andrea Dovizioso and
Casey Stoner have all been vocal in
their displeasure of Toseland's aggressive overtaking moves. James
has downplayed the talk and stated that his moves are "hard but
fair", and that it is his job to overtake his rivals when he has
the chance to do so.
Before
the British MotoGP round at Donington Park
, Toseland said that if he was to be the first
Briton to win in 27 years at the top level that he would strip
naked on the ride back to the pits. 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.
In pre-season testing Toseland suffered two major accidents, one of
them resulting in him being diagnosed with a concussion.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. Despite the change in crew chief Toseland has 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.
On October 1 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 . It was
announce before the Portuguese GP that Toseland will return to the
Superbike World
Championship.
Return to Superbike World Championship
2010
After losing his place at Tech 3 Yamaha to
Ben
Spies, Toseland confirmed that he would take Spies' place at
the Sterilgarda Yamaha World Superbike team for the
2010 Superbike World
Championship season. His teammate will be fellow British rider
Cal Crutchlow .
Career statistics
All-time stats
* Stats Correct as of 9th November 2009
| Years Active |
Series |
Races |
Poles |
Podiums |
Wins |
2nd place |
3rd place |
Fast laps |
Titles |
| 2008-09 |
Moto GP |
34 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 2001-07 |
Superbike (SBK) |
166 |
4 |
57 |
16 |
24 |
17 |
2 |
2 |
| All-time |
Supersport (SSP) |
17 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Grand Prix motorcycle racing results
() (Races in
bold indicate pole position) (Races
in
italics indicate fastest lap)
World Superbike Championship
| Pos |
Rider |
Bike |
ESP
|
AUS
|
JPN
|
ITA
|
GER
|
GBR
|
SMR
|
USA
|
GBR
|
NED
|
ITA
|
FRA
|
Pos |
Pts |
Ref |
| R1 |
R2 |
R1 |
R2 |
R1 |
R2 |
R1 |
R2 |
R1 |
R2 |
R1 |
R2 |
R1 |
R2 |
R1 |
R2 |
R1 |
R2 |
R1 |
R2 |
R1 |
R2 |
R1 |
R2 |
| 2003 |
WSB |
Ducati |
4 |
3 |
Ret |
5 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
Ret |
3 |
Ret |
6 |
3 |
4 |
Ret |
Ret |
Ret |
5 |
2 |
3rd |
271 |
|
References
- Toseland claims Superbikes title BBC Sport - 7
October, 2007
- James Toseland with Ted Macaulay James Toseland: The Autobiography Published by
Virgin Books, ISBN 0-7535-1103-7
- Motorcycle Racing Online - James Toseland
profile
- BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Motorbikes | Toseland
makes winning WSB start
- BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Motorbikes | Toseland
leader after second win
- autosport.com - MotoGP News: Toseland to ride for
Tech 3 Yamaha in '08
- Toseland to wear BKS in MotoGP - Motorcycle Sport -
MCN
- MOTOGP: Qualifying times - Qatar., motorsport news,
results, features, teams, drivers, updates
- Toseland shrugs off riding criticism
autosport.com, retrieved on 10 April 2008.
- James Toseland promises to strip if he wins British
GP|MotoGP| | The Sun |Sport|Motorsport
- http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/66580
-
http://www.thestar.co.uk/sportcolumns/Toseland-a-double-knockout.5138668.jp
-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/motorbikes/8283887.stm
-
http://www.worldsbk.com/season/standings?p_S_Campionato=SBK&p_Anno=2007&p_PilotiCostruttori=P
-
http://www.worldsbk.com/season/standings?p_S_Campionato=SBK&p_Anno=2006&p_PilotiCostruttori=P
-
http://www.worldsbk.com/season/standings?p_S_Campionato=SBK&p_Anno=2005&p_PilotiCostruttori=P
-
http://www.worldsbk.com/season/standings?p_S_Campionato=SBK&p_Anno=2004&p_PilotiCostruttori=P
-
http://www.worldsbk.com/season/standings?p_S_Campionato=SBK&p_Anno=2003&p_PilotiCostruttori=P
-
http://www.worldsbk.com/season/standings?p_S_Campionato=SBK&p_Anno=2002&p_PilotiCostruttori=P
-
http://www.worldsbk.com/season/standings?p_S_Campionato=SBK&p_Anno=2001&p_PilotiCostruttori=P
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