In the last decade of the 20th century and the early part of the millenium, Daijiro Kato was the rising star from the land of the rising sun.
Thanks to his parents buying him a pocket bike when he was 5 years old, the young Daijiro found his talent for racing very early. By 1985 he’d won the Japanese national championship, and took four more titles when he moved up to the mini-bikes.
Already a seasoned racer, Daijiro started on ‘real’ motorycles as soon as he turned 16, racing in a local Japanese series in SP250, GP125, GP250 classes, and winning all three.
1994 saw him move to the All Japan champtionship where he took his first major win at Aida.
HRC know a good rider when they see one and signed Kato in 1996. He finished the year in 2nd place in the GP250 All Japan series and Honda gave him a wildcard ride at the Japanese round of the 250cc world championship where he finished in an impressive 3rd place.
Dailiro continued to race in the Japanese 250 class, winning that championship in 1997, and got more wildcard rides at the Japanese rounds of the world championship. There wasn’t much doubt left about Dailiro’s talent by then - he won his wildcard races in 1997 and 1998.
Finally, in 2000, the world stage beckoned and a place in the Gresini team as a 250 rider. In his rookie season he won four races and finished 3rd in the championship. He also won the prestigious Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race.
2000 was impressive but 2001 turned out to be sensational. Kato scored 11 wins that year, beating Mike Hailwood’s record on his way to being crowned the 250cc world champion. More than enough to get him a contract in the MotoGP top class for 2002.
He started the year on a NSR500 two-stroke but was given a factory supported RC211V halfway through the season after coming 2nd at the Spanish round. A solid rookie season that, if his record in the 250’s was anything to go by, was going to see him fighting hard for the championship in 2003. And for good measure, he won the Suzuka 8-Hours. Again.
So much promise, but in April, at the opening round of the 2003 MotoGP championship at Suzuka, disaster struck when Daijiro lost control of his bike and hit a wall at 125mph, resulting in severe head, neck and chest injuries. He never recovered and died two weeks later.
At the 2003 Suzuka 8-Hour, Tadayuki Okada raced with Kato’s #74 as a tribute. The FIM retired the number ofter that race and it’s not been used by any rider since.