2023.6.6
Race Report
Round 5 of the Supersport World Championship (WSSP), the Emilia Romagna round, was held at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in Italy from June 2 to 4. Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli is located in the northeastern part of Italy, near the Adriatic Sea. More than 70,000 spectators and Italian riders competing in MotoGP visited the site for this year's event, which was a great success.
Emilia Romagna is the round where Yuta Okatani (ProDina Kawasaki Racing/Kawasaki ZX-6R) finished 2nd in Race 2 in 2022. This was his first Emilia Romagna round with WSSP, and despite a race weekend plagued by chatter and unlucky luck, Okatani was able to finish both races, thus gaining more experience with WSSP.
In Free Practice 1 on the first day, he was plagued by chattering symptoms as the laps went by. This was due to the suspension settings that had been changed for the Emilia Romagna round. There was also a situation where Okatani's pace did not mesh with the settings the team had applied to the bike. However, this discrepancy was caused by the fact that Okatani's lap times on the course were faster than the team had expected.
In Superpole on Saturday, he recorded a 1:39.900, placing 26th. This was about 1 second slower than Okatani's own expected time, and the Free Practice 1, which had to be run on the first day without the right setting, had an effect on the qualifying time.
In Race 1, the team got off to a good start and was in the 24th position, fighting for position in the pack. However, after the 7th lap, he began experiencing chattering symptoms again, making it difficult to stop the bike and forcing him to race patiently. Okatani rode a hard race and finished the race in 20th position.
In Race 2, he was hit by another rider on the fourth corner of the first lap, resulting in an unavoidable crash. Fortunately, Okatani himself was not seriously injured, and after returning to the pits to repair his bike, he was able to return to the race. Despite his misfortune, he finished the race in 27th place.
Round 6 of the WSSP will be held from June 30 to July 2 at Donington Park Circuit in England.
・Comments from Yuta Okaya
In Free Practice 1, I did not feel good at all due to chattering and almost fell down. In Free Practice 2, the chattering improved and I was finally able to attack, but I couldn't do anything in Free Practice 1, so I lost a lot of time this race weekend. In Race 1, I was good from the start until about the 7th lap, but then the chattering started and the bike wouldn't stop. I think I suffered from chattering this weekend. However, despite this, the way I proceeded in the early part of the race was good in this event, and I think I was able to do what I could to improve. After this race, we have the Suzuka 8 Hours test at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan. I will be able to train riding the bike in Japan, so I hope to improve my riding, review the first half of the season, and prepare for the series of races in July."
Result / WorldSBK web site SUPERPOLE RACE1 RACE2
2023.5.8
Race Report
The fourth round of the Supersport World Championship (WSSP), the Catalunya round, was held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain. Yuta Okatani (ProDina Kawasaki Racing/Kawasaki ZX-6R) has won the Supersport 300 World Championship (WSSP300) at this circuit in 2020 and 2022. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is located near Barcelona, the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and is the second home race for Okatani, who is based in Barcelona starting this year. Also at the Catalunya round, many of Okatani's racing colleagues who compete in the World Road Race Championship and many Japanese people came to support him and his race.
This was the second round of the WSSP for Okaya, and he continued to improve his times during the race week as he gained more experience in the WSSP. In Free Practice 1 on the first day, he had to stop his machine near the pitlane exit 10 minutes before the end of the session due to "trouble. However, this was due to Okaya setting better lap times than the team had expected. Although the session ended without running the remaining 10 minutes, the trouble was not all negative factors.
Okaya steadily improved his lap times from Free Practice 1 to Free Practice 2, and on Saturday, he set a 1:46.846 in Superpole (qualifying). This time was 1.5 seconds faster than his best time of 1:48.372 set in Free Practice 1 on the first day. Okaya started the race from the 8th row, 24th on the grid.
In Race 1, he moved up to around 22nd position on the first lap, and set a 1:47.587 on the third lap. After that, it took him some time to find a steady pace as he had to adapt to full braking from the long straight, which was performed under full tank conditions. However, by conserving his tires, he was able to stabilize his pace in the latter half of the race, finishing in 22nd place.
In Race 2, where he gained more experience, he was fighting for position in the pack. Like his rivals, Okaya's race pace in Race 2 was faster than in Race 1. In the first half of the race, his pace was right on target, but in the second half, his tires unexpectedly wore out quickly, making it difficult for him to keep up his pace, and he finished in 21st place. The unexpectedness that came with the race was a hurdle to overcome, as Okaya's riding and race pace continued to evolve. With a solid feeling that he is making progress, Okaya will now head to the next round, Round 5 of the WSSP in Italy.
Round 5 of the WSSP will be held at the Misano World Circuit - Marco Simoncelli in Italy from June 2 to 4.
・Comments from Yuta Okaya
"In qualifying I was able to set my target time and in the race I was able to improve my time with each run, more so in Race 2 than Race 1. I am not satisfied, but it was a positive race weekend. In Catalunya, I have learned more about how to race and I have adapted to the handling of the bike with full tanks. （I was not able to do that at Assen, but this time I discovered things that will help me in the next race, so I feel that I am making good progress. I am based in Barcelona this year, but I was able to relax this time and many of my Japanese friends who are competing around the world came to cheer me on. It was like a home race, so I was very happy."
Result / WorldSBK web site SUPERPOLE RACE1 RACE2
2023.4.25
Race Report
The third round of the World Supersport Championship (WSSP) was held at the TT Circuit Assen in the Netherlands, and Yuta Okaya (ProDina Kawasaki Racing/Kawasaki ZX-6R), who has stepped up to the WSSP for the 2023 season, entered the "World Supersport Challenge" only for the European round. He entered the "World Supersport Challenge," competing only in the European rounds. The opening round was held in Australia and the second in Indonesia, so the third round in the Netherlands was Okaya 's first race of the 2023 season.
The host circuit, TT Circuit Assen, is located in the northeastern part of the Netherlands and is known as the "Cathedral of Speed. It has a long history, starting with the Dutch TT public road race in 1925, and is the only circuit that has hosted the World Road Racing Championship (MotoGP) from its inaugural season in 1949 to the current season in 2023. In the 2022 season, Okaya, who was competing in the Supersport 300 World Championship (WSSP300), finished 3rd in Race 2 of the Dutch round. He finished on the podium in 3rd place in Race 2 of the Dutch round.
The start of the WSSP challenge was tough for Okaya. One of the major factors that made the situation difficult was engine trouble that occurred during Free Practice 2 on Friday afternoon. This trouble prevented Okaya from running most of Free Practice 2.
WSSP has only two Free Practice sessions on Friday. Free Practice is an important session to mature the car for Superpole (qualifying) and the race to be held the next day. In addition, as a WSSP rookie, Okaya wanted to run as long as possible, even a minute or a second longer. In Free Practice 2, he had a good feeling that he could improve his time, but this was a painful trouble for him.
Okaya was 28th in Superpole and started the race from the 10th row. In Saturday's Race 1, he finished 23rd due to a crash of the rider in front of him. Based on the difficult Race 1, he made major changes to his setup for Race 2 on Sunday.
This worked out well, and Okaya improved on his previous time in the warm-up session on Sunday morning. In Race 2, after further setting refinements, Okaya set his best time of the weekend on the fourth lap, a 1:40.239. He was able to set faster lap times than in Race 1, and was battling for 23rd position. Midway through the race, however, Okaya was struck by a symptom of arm elevation in his right arm. This condition made it difficult for Okaya to turn the fast, flowing corners of Assen, but he was able to complete 18 laps and finish the race in 23rd place.
This was a particularly difficult weekend for Okaya, as it was his first WSSP race and he had engine trouble on the first day. However, although he did not achieve his goal of scoring points (top 15), the fact that he steadily improved his lap times from the first day and finished both races was a major gain for Okaya.
・Comments from Yuta Okaya
"This was my first WSSP race and my first race with the team, so I had a lot of work to do, and at the beginning of the race, my base settings were not yet set. On top of that, I had engine trouble in Free Practice 2, which caused a big delay. We did the best we could, but it was a tough qualifying position because we were not at our best.
Race 1 was tough, but in Race 2 we improved both in terms of setting and driving. Overall, I think it was a very productive race. The next round in Catalunya is a circuit where we can use the experience from Jerez and Valencia, where we have been testing, so I think we can finish in a better position. Our goal is, of course, to score points."
Result / WorldSBK web site SUPERPOLE RACE1 RACE2
2022.10.21
RELEASE
・Comments from Yuta Okaya
“Sono davvero felice di entrare a far parte del Prodina Racing Team e sono entusiasta di passare alla classe superiore e di guidare la Kawasaki ZX-6R. Ho ottenuto molti successi nella classe 300 ed è quindi il momento giusto per fare il passo successivo. In Giappone mi alleno spesso con una 600 e quest’anno ho vinto la classe Superstock 1000 alla guida di una Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR nella 8 Ore di Suzuka. Ho quindi già una certa esperienza su moto di cilindrate maggiori. Sono onorato e contento di continuare a far parte della famiglia Kawasaki e sono grato per il loro supporto”
■Yuta Okaya’s 2023 Season
・Race : FIM SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
・Class : World Supersport
・Team : ProDina Racing Team
・Machine : Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R
SCHEDULE → https://www.worldsbk.com/en/calendar
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