Speed Dating: February 8 – 14

February 9

Takaaki Nakagami (JP), born on this date in 1992, is a rider in the 125cc Grand Prix class. Nakagami, a product of the Red Bull MotoGP Academy, became the youngest rider to win the Japanese 125cc Championship in 2006 before moving to the Spanish racing series in 2007, in which he finished sixth aboard a Honda. In 2008 and 2009, Nakagami switched to Aprilia, riding in the 125cc World Championships. No announcement has yet been made regarding Nakagami’s racing plans for 2010.

Happy birthday to Jason DiSalvo (US), who was born on this date in 1984. Before making his 2002 debut in the AMA series, DiSalvo competed in a variety of national and international 125cc and 250cc grand prix championships. He finished third in the 2008 AMA Superbike Championship riding a Factory Yamaha YZF-R1 and finished fifth in the 2009 Daytona SportBike Championship for Team M4 Suzuki. For 2010, DiSalvo will be competing in the World Supersport Championship with the Triumph BE1 factory team. In a recent (first) test with the team, DiSalvo was tenth quickest.

Tommy Hill (UK), born on this date in 1985, began earning a name for himself by competing in various British road racing series, winning the 2003 Virgin Mobile Yamaha R6 Cup before going on to race in British Superbike for a number of years. In 2006, Hill took a surprise pole as a wildcard during the World Superbike round at Silverstone, and in 2008 he moved to the Hannspree Altea Honda team in the World Supersport Championship before being sidelined with a broken femur. The 2009 season was a tumultuous one for Hill: he started the year racing for Althea Honda, but lost the ride mid-season; he then returned to the BSB series, replacing the injured Sylvain Guintoli on the Worx Suzuki squad. Hill turned in several decent results for Worx Suzuki, but was again sidelined when Guintoli returned from injury. Shortly thereafter, Hydrex Honda released Karl Harris from their team and asked Hill to fill in for the remainder of the season. Making the most of the opportunity, Hill chalked up several top-five finishes and two podiums during the last three rounds of the 2009 BSB season. For 2010, he will return to the Worx Suzuki team as a full-time replacement for Guintoli, who has moved to World SBK with the Alstare Suzuki squad for 2010.

February 10

Chaz Davies (UK) was born on this date in 1987. Davies entered the 125cc World Championship in 2002, becoming the youngest rider to ever compete in a full World Championship season. Davies raced for Celtic racing in the AMA Pro series for 2007, also serving as a stand-in rider for D’Antin Ducati in the MotoGP championship when regular D’Antin rider, Alex Hoffman, was injured. In 2008, Davies raced for Attack Kawasaki and earned the Daytona 200 victory, becoming the first British rider to win the historic race. For 2009, Davies contended the Daytona SportBike class aboard the Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies RSV1000R. Davies turned in some solid results aboard the outdated Aprilia, finishing ninth in the points (with several podiums along the way), then got an end-of-season opportunity to ride for ParkinGo BE1 Triumph in the World Supersport Championship. Davies was immediately impressive on the Triumph, tallying a fourth and a seventh during the last three WSS races of 2009, and he will campaign the entire 2010 season for the British manufacturer.

Jim Moodie (UK), was born on this date in 1966, was competitive for many years on the British road racing cicuit between 1993 and 2002. He finished in the top-five on a number of occasions and took the British Supersport title for Yamaha in 1999. Moodie won the Isle of Man TT eight times and set a TT course lap record in 1999 (a record that has since been beaten) aboard a Honda RC45 with an average speed of 124.45 mph, despite beginning the lap from a standing start.

February 11

On this date in 2002, the Speedvision cable channel was relaunched as the Speed Channel. The change in name coincided with the purchase of the network by Fox and a new emphasis on NASCAR-oriented programming. Speed Channel is the primary outlet for road racing-based programming in the U.S.

Happy birthday to John Surtees (UK), who was born on this date in 1934. Surtees began his international racing career for the Norton factory team in 1955 before moving to MV Agusta in 1956. That year, Surtees took the 500cc World Championship and went on to win both the 350cc and 500cc world titles in 1958, 1959, and 1960. Also in 1960, Surtees began competing in the Formula 1 World Championship for the Lotus team. Surtees became Formula 1 World Champion in 1964 with Scuderia Ferrari. To this day, Surtees remains the only man to win World Championships on two and four wheels.

February 13

Tadayuki Okada (JP), who was born on this date in 1967, spent his entire Grand Prix career with Honda, taking two wins in the 250cc class, four in the 500cc class, and finishing runner-up in both classes (in 1994 and 1997, respectively). Okada finished third in 500cc championship points in 1999 after loosing out to final race-winner and 1999 World Champion Kenny Roberts Jr. Okada retired from the premier Grand Prix class in 2000 but competed in the Superbike World Championship in 2001, ending the season eighth in the points. Okada, who had been working as a test-rider for Honda’s MotoGP program, made a one-off return to racing at the Italian Grand Prix in 2008, where he debuted the pneumatic-valve Honda RC212V, finishing fourteenth.

February 14

Randy De Puniet (FR), who was born in 1981, celebrates his twenty-ninth birthday on this date. The Frenchman took four wins in the 250cc class during his five years with Aprilia (finishing fourth in points in 2003 and third in 2004) before switching to the premier class with Kawasaki in 2006. For 2007, De Puniet remained with the factory Kawasaki team, regularly finishing in the top-ten and even taking a podium in wet conditions at the Japanese Grand Prix. He moved to LCR Honda in 2008, where he finished sixteenth in the standings. The 2009 season was good to De Puniet, who (still with LCR Honda) once again made regular appearances in the top-ten, even breaking into the top-five twice, with a fourth-placed finish in Spain and a third in the UK. More importantly, De Puniet, known for a tendency to crash, retired from only two races in 2009, which helped him to keep his seat with LCR Honda for 2010, the third year in a row.

Two-time world champion Manuel Poggiali (IT) was born on this date in 1983. Poggiali won the 125cc World Championship in 2001 with eleven podium finishes and three wins at the age of 18. Though he was unable to retain the 125cc title for 2002, he redeemed himself by taking the 2003 250cc Grand Prix Championship during his rookie season in that class. Poggiali stepped away from the sport after a 2005 return to the 125cc class and a frustrating year with the KTM 250cc team in 2006. For 2008, Poggiali returned to the 250cc championship with Campetella Racing, but left the team halfway through the season, citing a lack of enthusiasm.