This is the first installment of a column in which Yoko Togashi, who worked on HRC’s overseas racing activities from 1986 to 2008, looks back on Tetsuya Harada, the 1993 250cc world champion.

Below is a summary and excerpt from the article. Please refer to the original text for the full version.



#  Wild Card Entry into the World Grand Prix

Even by June 1992, when he shared victory with Tadayuki Okada in Round 6 of the All Japan Road Race Championship at Suzuka, Tetsuya Harada still did not think he wanted to compete in the Road Racing World Championship.



Harada first watched a World Grand Prix at the 1989 Japanese GP held at Suzuka Circuit. He went there together with his teammate Yasutomo Nagai, who would later pass away a few days after crashing at Assen in the Netherlands in September 1995.



“I was watching from the S Curve with Nagai-san. It was the prime era of Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz, and I remember watching and thinking, ‘wow, this is incredible.’ It was not even about how amazing Rainey and Schwantz were. There were so many spectators, and I was simply overwhelmed by the whole atmosphere of Grand Prix racing.”



“Nagai-san had this huge dream of becoming a Grand Prix champion, so he kept saying, ‘I want to race in a huge event like this.’ I had not really thought that far ahead about racing in the World GP myself.”



Harada first entered the World Grand Prix at the Japanese GP held at Suzuka in March 1990. Having finished fourth in the All Japan 250cc Championship the previous year, he entered as a wild card and finished seventh in a race won by Luca Cadalora.



“I really felt how different the level was. The top group disappeared almost immediately, so after that I just kept riding steadily,” Harada recalled.



For Harada, who would later become world champion, the “world” still felt very far away at that point.



He returned to the Japanese GP as a wild card in 1991 and finished sixth, then crashed out in 1992. Then came 1993. In his first season as a full time Grand Prix rider, he claimed his first victory at the opening round in Australia. On the final lap, he used the slipstream to pass 1990 250cc World Champion John Kocinski just before the finish line.



Perhaps because results like seventh and sixth place had not attracted much attention before, the press room erupted.



“Who is this Harada guy?”



I was bombarded with questions from foreign journalists I knew.



“The races that made me happiest were the opening round in 1993 and the final race where I secured the championship,” Harada would later say.



1993 became a year filled with many different experiences for Tetsuya Harada. It was also the year that his friend and senior rider, Nobuyuki Wakai, died.



#  Wakai’s Death

Nobuyuki Wakai had begun competing full time in the World Championship in 1991, two years before Harada.



On the weekend of the 1993 Spanish GP, I was in Japan when, on the morning of Saturday, May 1, a friend informed me that Wakai had died.



“Turn on the TV right now. The news is saying that a rider named Nobuyuki Wakai has died,” my friend told me.



At first, I assumed it had been a crash on track. The reality was different.



Near the end of practice, Wakai was about to leave pit lane to check his bike setup when an invited guest crossed directly in front of him. That person had entered an area restricted to team personnel and, when confronted, tried to hurry back and ran out into pit lane. He collided with Wakai, who struck his head against the wall and lost consciousness. He was transported to hospital but died several hours later.



Harada later said that Noboru Ueda told him about Wakai’s death on the night of the accident. What exactly was Harada thinking at that moment?



“I could not believe it at all. I thought, is this some kind of joke? Until then, I had heard Wakai-kun was seriously injured but recovering. I thought he would probably regain consciousness the next day, so I planned to visit him after the race.”



“The moment of silence the next morning was harder than hearing the news the night before. There was talk that Kazuto Sakata would not race, but I thought the proper way to honor Wakai-kun was to race properly, so I entered the race. I kept thinking about Wakai-kun the whole time I was riding.”



Harada won that race. After taking the chequered flag, he collapsed in tears and was carried back to the motorhome by his team staff.



“I kept thinking about Wakai-kun the whole time I was riding. I went there intending to win, and I am glad I won. After it was over, I did not want to talk about anything. It was a relief that everyone on the team left me alone.”



The organizers also cancelled the podium ceremony out of respect for Wakai’s death. That evening, Harada visited the hospital where Wakai’s body was being kept.



What did Tetsuya Harada say to Nobuyuki Wakai, and what promises did he make?

This is the second installment of a column in which Yoko Togashi, who worked on HRC’s overseas racing activities from 1986 to 2008, looks back on Tetsuya Harada, the 1993 250cc world champion.

Below is a summary and excerpt from the article. Please refer to the original text for the full version.

# Wild Card Entry into the World Grand Prix

Even by June 1992, when he shared victory with Tadayuki Okada in Round 6 of the All Japan Road Race Championship at Suzuka, Tetsuya Harada still did not think he wanted to compete in the Road Racing World Championship.

Harada first watched a World Grand Prix at the 1989 Japanese GP held at Suzuka Circuit. He went there together with his teammate Yasutomo Nagai, who would later pass away a few days after crashing at Assen in the Netherlands in September 1995.

>

>

Harada first entered the World Grand Prix at the Japanese GP held at Suzuka in March 1990.

Having finished fourth in the All Japan 250cc Championship the previous year, he entered as a wild card and finished seventh in a race won by Luca Cadalora.

>

For Harada, who would later become world champion, the “world” still felt very far away at that point.

He returned to the Japanese GP as a wild card in 1991 and finished sixth, then crashed out in 1992.

Then came 1993.

In his first season as a full time Grand Prix rider, he claimed his first victory at the opening round in Australia. On the final lap, he used the slipstream to pass 1990 250cc World Champion John Kocinski just before the finish line.

Perhaps because results like seventh and sixth place had not attracted much attention before, the press room erupted.

>

I was bombarded with questions from foreign journalists I knew.

>

1993 became a year filled with many different experiences for Tetsuya Harada.

It was also the year that his friend and senior rider, Nobuyuki Wakai, died.

# Wakai’s Death

Nobuyuki Wakai had begun competing full time in the World Championship in 1991, two years before Harada.

On the weekend of the 1993 Spanish GP, I was in Japan when, on the morning of Saturday, May 1, a friend informed me that Wakai had died.

>

At first, I assumed it had been a crash on track.

The reality was different.

Near the end of practice, Wakai was about to leave pit lane to check his bike setup when an invited guest crossed directly in front of him.

That person had entered an area restricted to team personnel and, when confronted, tried to hurry back and ran out into pit lane.

He collided with Wakai.

Wakai struck his head against the wall, lost consciousness, was transported to hospital, and died several hours later.

Harada later said that Noboru Ueda told him about Wakai’s death on the night of the accident.

What exactly was Harada thinking at that moment?

>

>

Harada won that race.

After taking the chequered flag, he collapsed in tears and was carried back to the motorhome by his team staff.

>

The organizers also cancelled the podium ceremony out of respect for Wakai’s death.

That evening, Harada visited the hospital where Wakai’s body was being kept.

What did Tetsuya Harada say to Nobuyuki Wakai, and what promises did he make?

Yoko Togashi’s World GP Journey / Tetsuya Harada Vol. 2 The first time Harada experienced the World Grand Prix, and the death of a teammate