James Toseland

James Toseland
File:James Toseland.jpg
Nationality	English
Born	(1980-10-05) 5 October 1980 Doncaster, South Yorkshire
Bike number	52
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2008–2009 Manufacturers Yamaha Championships 0 2009 Championship position 13th (78 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 31 0 0 0 0 183 Superbike World Championship Active years 2001 – 2011, Manufacturers Ducati, Honda, Yamaha, BMW Motorrad Championships 2 2004, 2007 Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 168 16 57 4 2 Supersport World Championship Active years 1999 Manufacturers Honda Championships 0 Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 11 0 0 0 0 59

James Michael Toseland (born 5 October 1980) is an English former motorcycle racer. Toseland was the 2007 World Superbike Champion on a Ten Kate Honda, and also won the 2004 Superbike World Championship on a Ducati. He is one of only two men, the other being Troy Corser, to have won the World Superbike Championship for two different manufacturers. On 9 September 2011 he officially retired from professional motorsport due to a wrist injury sustained in March 2011 at an official World Superbike Championship testing session at Motorland Aragon, Spain.

Aside from racing, Toseland is a pianist (reaching Grade 6) and singer-songwriter who performed with his band Crash across the world. Toseland is also a solo artist and in the past has performed alongside Ray Stubbs for BBC's Sport Relief and played a piano set at the British sports personality of the year awards in 2007.

Biography

Toseland was born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. His parents separated when he was young and he was subsequently raised by his mother in Kiveton Park in Rotherham. After his mother started a relationship with Ken Wright, Toseland accepted him as his default father figure, and began taking interest in Wright's hobbies. Toseland began taking piano lessons aged eight, taught by a professional pianist; and he also started riding motocross bikes on the coal slag heaps close to his home. He was taught from Year 7 to Year 11 at Wales High School, located in Kiveton Park.

Although the family struggled with income, Toseland attended junior trials and motocross events across the UK. However, Wright and Toseland's mother separated when Toseland was in his early teens and Wright later committed suicide. Toseland kept up his piano lessons, achieving Grade 6 – but not quite enough for him to gain a place at the London College of Music.

Toseland's engagement to pop singer Katie Melua was announced in January 2012. They were married on 1 September 2012, in the Nash Conservatory, at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London.

Motorcycle racing career

Transferring his motorcycle career from off-road to road racing after Wright's death, Toseland quickly worked his way up through the ranks becoming 1995 Junior Road Race Champion before moving on to 125cc racing in the UK Superteen series, and then sprang to prominence in the late nineties when he dominated the Honda CB500 Cup series aged 17. He was then picked up to ride a Supersport Honda and won races at national level.

World Supersport 1998–1999

As a result of his early racing success, he was signed to the factory Castrol Honda World Supersport squad where he rode for two years finishing 18th and 11th in the championship with best results of 8th in his first year and 6th in the first round of the second year.

British Superbikes 2000

He joined the British Superbike Championship series in 2000, riding for Paul Bird's Vimto-sponsored team on a Honda VTR He contested the first seven rounds, missing four more through injury, and over the course of these picked up 101 points. Altogether, this placed him 12th in the championship and his results included seven finishes in the top eight riders, including two sixth places at Oulton Park.

Superbike World Championship

2001–2003

In 2001 aged 20, Toseland joined the GSE team to partner Neil Hodgson in the Superbikes World Championship. Having never taken a top five finish in either the British Superbike Championship or the Supersport World Championship, he was not initially as competitive as Hodgson. However by late 2002 he was challenging for top 5 results and took seventh place overall that year. In 2003 the team was more competitive than ever, allowing Toseland to take his first win at Oschersleben and third in the championship overall.

2004

In 2004 after both Neil Hodgson and Ruben Xaus left the Superbikes World Championship to race in MotoGP, Toseland joined the factory Fila Ducati team as second rider to the experienced Regis Laconi, aboard the dominant 999 F04 motorcycle. Toseland put together a consistent series to stay with Regis Laconi all the way, and even ahead at several meetings. The final races at Magny-Cours saw youngster Toseland out-ride his experienced team-mate, giving him the title by a nine-point margin. A final tally of 336 included three wins and 11other podium finishes.

2005

2005 proved to be more of a struggle for Toseland, with a lack of team support as well as the returning Suzuki and Yamaha teams and the improving Honda camp of five riders including Chris Vermeulen and Pierfrancesco Chili. This combination of factors ended the domination of Ducati, and Troy Corser took the championship on a Suzuki, with Toseland finishing fourth overall.

2006

For 2006 Toseland switched to the Winston Ten Kate Racing Honda racing team, replacing the MotoGP-bound Chris Vermeulen, where he rode alongside Australian Karl Muggeridge. Toseland won the season-opener in Qatar, and finished second in the championship behind Troy Bayliss. He was contacted to replace injured Toni Elías for the Fortuna Honda team for a one-off appearance in MotoGP, but this did not happen for sponsor-related reasons.

Toseland was linked to the d'antin Ducati satellite team in MotoGP in 2006, and received an offer to ride for them in 2007. However, d'antin had not performed well over recent years, and Toseland turned the offer down, not willing to make up the grid on a bike that wasn't competitive.

2007

James Toseland at WK SBK Assen 2007

Toseland remained in WSBK for 2007 with Ten Kate Racing Honda, despite a firm offer from the Pramac d'Antin team to race in MotoGP. Toseland posted a first/second combination at the first meeting in Qatar, and at Philip Island. He won one race in each of the first five meetings of the year. At Assen he almost took a pair of wins but he was passed by Bayliss, losing by just 0.009 seconds. Toseland won his first ever World Superbike double at Brands Hatch on 5 August giving him a 66-point lead in the championship overall. In the final race at Magny-Cours, he claimed the 2007 World Superbike title with a pole position in qualifying, seventh position in race one, and a sixth place in race two, to leave him two points ahead of Japan's Noriyuki Haga.

Toseland also became part of the Phil Burgan Race Academy (PBRA) – a programme for developing British talent in motorcycle sport – in 2007. The aim of the programme is to provide support, both financial and consultative, to promising British motorcycle racers and teams of the future.

Sports Personality of the Year 2007

Toseland was nominated for the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year 2007 and came fourth, 710 votes behind Ricky Hatton. However, he demonstrated his piano-playing abilities during the ceremony, performing a specially written solo blues/jazz piece. Toseland was voted as the BBC Yorkshire Sports Personality of the Year in 2007.

MotoGP

2008

File:James Toseland 08.jpg

James Toseland riding the Yamaha Tech 3 M1

Toseland was linked with the Pramac d'Antin MotoGP team, although rumours had also abounded of a ride with a Honda outfit, and even of Ten Kate Racing making the step up to the premier class and taking Toseland with them. However, Toseland confirmed a move to MotoGP for 2008 on 1 August 2007 when he announced that he had signed a one-year contract with factory supported Yamaha team Tech 3. For 2008 Tech 3 switched from Dunlop to Michelin tyres and it was confirmed that Toseland's team mate would be Colin Edwards. Toseland also signed a deal with British leathers company BKS to supply him with suits while competing in the 2008 MotoGP world championship.

Facing eight unknown tracks, Toseland had reason to expect a tough season [1], but he was immediately more competitive than originally anticipated. He qualified in second place and finished sixth in the opening race at Qatar on 9 March.

He then qualified in eighth place and finished sixth at Jerez on 30 March despite suffering from bronchitis.

Fellow MotoGP riders Chris Vermeulen, Andrea Dovizioso and Casey Stoner complained about his aggressive riding style. Toseland stated that his moves were "hard but fair", and that it was his job to overtake his rivals when he had the chance to do so.

Before the British MotoGP round at Donington Park, Toseland said that if he were the first Briton to win in 27 years at the top level that he would strip naked on the ride back to the pits. However, he crashed in the first corner of the race, but picked his bike up to finish in 17th place, his worst finish of the season to that point, over a lap behind the winner Casey Stoner.

Toseland struggled through the middle part of the season for top ten finishes, achieving two ninth places (the Netherlands and the United States). One of James' better showings was at Brno where he finished 13th, ahead of his team mate Colin Edwards. Amidst Bridgestone dominance he was the third-highest finisher on Michelin tires, the first being Andrea Dovizioso placed in ninth. At Phillip Island he ran third for a while but ultimately faded to sixth after frantic battles with the factory-supported Yamahas of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo as well as Dovizioso and Shinya Nakano.

Overall Toseland had a mixed first year in the Moto GP class, finishing 11th overall in the championship with 105 points. Inconsistency was one of the main problems as he was unable to record regular top ten results despite having only two DNFs.

2009

It was confirmed that Toseland would stay on for 2009 with the Tech 3 Yamaha team, racing alongside Colin Edwards as he did in 2008. Yamaha also decided to continue its relationship with the Tech 3 brand through to 2010.

In pre-season testing, Toseland suffered two major accidents, one of them resulting in him being diagnosed with concussion. The start of the season was difficult for Toseland as he could not find a bike set-up that was comfortable. In 2008 Toseland had been unhappy with the communication with his engineer and his complaints led to a switch of crew chief with team-mate Colin Edwards. Edwards resented this change and refused to speak with Toseland during the early rounds of the season. Despite the change in crew chief Toseland only finished ahead of Edwards in two races for the year. Toseland also received jump-start penalties at the Laguna Seca and Phillip Island rounds, the former resulting in a disqualification.

On 1 October 2009, Yamaha officially confirmed that Spies would join Yamaha Tech 3 to ride in the 2010 MotoGP championship, taking Toseland's place in the team. It was also announced before the Portuguese GP that Toseland would return to the Superbike World Championship.

Return to Superbike World Championship – and retirement

2010

After losing his place at Tech 3 Yamaha to Ben Spies, Toseland took over Spies' place at the Sterilgarda Yamaha World Superbike team for the 2010 Superbike World Championship season. His teammate was fellow British rider Cal Crutchlow. Toseland struggled to adapt to the new bike early in the season, only gaining 4 podium finishes going into the last two rounds of the season.

2011

For 2011, after being offered a return to Ten Kate Honda, he signed for the factory-backed BMW Motorrad Italia Team aboard the BMW S1000RR.

However, on 9 September 2011, Toseland confirmed that, following the wrist injury sustained during a crash at Aragon in Spain, he would retire from racing immediately.

New ventures

Music

Following the premature end of his racing career, Toseland has returned his focus to his first love – music. After parting with his band Crash, he is now embarking on his own solo career, in a quintet known as 'Toseland'. The band's debut single: 'Life is Beautiful' premiered online in April 2013 and later that month it was announced that they had been booked to play an acoustic set at the 2013 Download Festival. The first album 'Renegade' was released in 2014. In 2015 his band released their 'Hearts and Bones' EP and embarked on a tour of various venues commencing in Brighton and ending in Southampton. James Toseland announced during that tour a record deal had recently been secured.

Racing mentor

Toseland is also using his previous experience on the race track to help develop up-and-coming motorcycle racing stars of the future as part of his involvement with the Phil Burgan Race Academy (PBRA) . From 2012, Toseland stepped into a mentoring role, providing one-to-one support for the Academy's talented young motorcycle racers including Danny Kent and Sylvain Barrier.

Motorcycle land speed record attempt

Toseland announced in December 2012 that he would be attempting to break the motorcycle land speed world record in September 2014; this was delayed due to adverse weather and surface conditions. The streamliner that Toseland will ride for the attempt at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, United States is powered by a Rolls Royce jet engine and is called 'The 52 Express' after Toseland's racing number. The record attempt is led by former GP and TT sidecar competitor Alex Macfadzean.

Career statistics

Notes:
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

All Time

Series		Years Active	Races	Poles	Podiums	Wins	2nd place	3rd place	Fast Laps	Titles
World Supersport (WSS)		1998–1999	17	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
World Superbike (SBK)		2001–07, 2010–2011	201	4	61	16	26	19	2	2
Moto GP		2008–09	34	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total			252	4	61	16	26	19	2	2

Supersport World Championship

Year	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos	Pts	Ref
1998	Honda	GBR	ITA	SPA	GER	SMR	RSA 10	USA Ret	EUR 8	AUT 12	NED Ret		19th	18
1999		RSA 6	GBR 8	SPA 11	ITA 9	GER 13	SMR 13	USA 11	EUR 7	AUT Ret	NED 7	GER 22	11th	59

Superbike World Championship

Year	Make	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		13		Pos	Pts	Ref
		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
2001	Ducati	ESP Ret	ESP 9	RSA 14	RSA Ret	AUS 14	AUS C	JPN 11	JPN 16	ITA Ret	ITA Ret	GBR 8	GBR Ret	GER Ret	GER 17	SMR 11	SMR 8	USA 10	USA 7	EUR 11	EUR 6	GER 10	GER 12	NED 10	NED 8	ITA Ret	ITA DNS	13th	91
2002		ESP 12	ESP 10	AUS 8	AUS 7	RSA 6	RSA 8	JPN 9	JPN 11	ITA 5	ITA Ret	GBR 10	GBR 9	GER 7	GER 7	SMR 8	SMR Ret	USA 9	USA 6	GBR 9	GBR Ret	GER 6	GER 8	NED 6	NED 3	ITA 6	ITA 6	7th	195
2003		ESP 4	ESP 3	AUS Ret	AUS 4	JPN 3	JPN 5	ITA 4	ITA 5	GER 3	GER 1	GBR 2	GBR 4	SMR 2	SMR Ret	USA 3	USA Ret	GBR 6	GBR 3	NED 4	NED Ret	ITA Ret	ITA Ret	FRA 5	FRA 2			3rd	271
2004		ESP 1	ESP 2	AUS 3	AUS Ret	SMR 10	SMR 6	ITA 2	ITA 2	GER 2	GER 2	GBR Ret	GBR 5	USA 4	USA 7	GBR 2	GBR Ret	NED 1	NED 2	ITA 3	ITA 2	FRA 1	FRA 2					1st	336
2005		QAT 6	QAT 6	AUS 14	AUS Ret	ESP 8	ESP 19	ITA 3	ITA 5	EUR 3	EUR 1	SMR 4	SMR 4	CZE 2	CZE 8	GBR Ret	GBR 7	NED 2	NED 3	GER 4	GER 11	ITA 4	ITA C	FRA 3	FRA 6			4th	254
2006	Honda	QAT 1	QAT 4	AUS 3	AUS 2	ESP 9	ESP 11	ITA Ret	ITA 5	EUR 3	EUR 3	SMR 2	SMR 8	CZE 2	CZE 5	GBR 2	GBR 5	NED 10	NED 9	GER 9	GER 1	ITA 2	ITA 5	FRA 1	FRA 3			2nd	336
2007		QAT 2	QAT 1	AUS 2	AUS 1	EUR 1	EUR Ret	ESP 5	ESP 1	NED 1	NED 2	ITA 4	ITA 2	GBR 8	GBR C	SMR 4	SMR 6	CZE 1	CZE 2	GBR 1	GBR 1	GER 9	GER 4	ITA 3	ITA 11	FRA 7	FRA 6	1st	415
2010	Yamaha	AUS Ret	AUS 10	POR 7	POR 6	SPA 3	SPA 7	NED 2	NED 3	ITA 2	ITA Ret	RSA 7	RSA 6	USA 9	USA Ret	SMR 10	SMR Ret	CZE 7	CZE 4	GBR 8	GBR 5	GER Ret	GER 8	ITA Ret	ITA Ret	FRA Ret	FRA Ret	9th	187
2011	BMW	AUS 17	AUS 14	GBR	GBR	NED	NED	ITA DNS	ITA DNS	USA 15	USA DNS	SMR	SMR	SPA	SPA	CZE WD	CZE WD	GBR 12	GBR 13	GER 13	GER Ret	ITA	ITA	FRA	FRA	POR	POR	22nd	13

Grand Prix motorcycle racing results

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pos	Pts
2008	MotoGP	Yamaha	QAT 6	SPA 6	POR 7	CHN 12	FRA Ret	ITA 6	CAT 6	GBR 17	NED 9	GER 11	USA 9	CZE 13	SMR 6	IND 18	JPN 11	AUS 6	MAL Ret	VAL 11	11th	105
2009	MotoGP	Yamaha	QAT 16	JPN 9	SPA 13	FRA 9	ITA 7	CAT 13	NED 6	USA DSQ	GER 10	GBR 6	CZE 9	IND 6	SMR 10	POR 9	AUS 14	MAL 15	VAL 12		14th	92

External links

• Official James Toseland website
• James Toseland video interview
• Official Toseland band website