Noriyasu Numata

Noriyasu Numata (沼田憲保) was a Grand Prix motorcycle road racer born in Chiba, Japan. He competed in 250cc Grand Prix motorcycle racing from 1995 to 1998. He was killed in an accident during tyre testing for Dunlop at Okayama International Circuit in Japan.

Early career
He competed in the 250cc All-Japan Road Racing Championship from 1991 to 1996. In 1993 he was signed by Suzuki who were entering the Championship for the first time with the RGV250. Numata took the machine to its first victory at Round 9 of the championship. He went on to give Suzuki its first ever 250cc national title in 1995, beating Honda’s Tohru Ukawa, and repeated the feat again the following year beating future 250cc World Champion Daijiro Kato.

Grand Prix career
He got a wild card ride in both the 1995 and 1996 Japanese Grand Prix and while a non-finisher in 1995, rode an impressive race in 1996 to finish 2nd behind then 250cc World Champion Max Biaggi.

Numata then competed for two years in the 250cc World Championships with Suzuki. However, the machine received little development as the factory were concentrating on their 500cc effort. Numata finished 1997 in 12th position, and 1998 in 16th but in each case he finished well ahead of his team-mates on similar machinery.

In 1999, Numata had a one-off ride on the Muz 500 as a replacement rider for Luca Cadalora in the 500cc class, finishing 13th in the race.

Post Grand Prix career
He also made one-off appearances in Supersport World Championship and Superbike World Championship races in and, but retired on each occasion. Numata, like many of the top Japanese riders, was also a regular competitor in the Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance race. He competed in the event on seven occasions between 1991 and 2002, his best finish being a 4th place in 1993 partnered with Akira Yanagawa. From 2004 to 2007 he competed in the All Japan Road Race Championships in the 600cc class, finishing 5th and 6th in 2004 and 2005 respectively. At the time of his death, he held 11th place in the 2007 Championship.