Shoya Tomizawa was just 19 years old when he tragically lost his life on September 5th 2010, and despite his young years the Japanese rider had already displayed a huge talent and highly affable personality around the MotoGP paddock.
Tomizawa's name went down in history as the first ever Moto2 race winner when on April 11th 2010 he rode to victory in Qatar in the curtain raiser of the new class, confirming that result with second place in the following race at Jerez and more points-scoring results as the season progressed.
At the time of his tragic death Tomizawa was in only his second full season in the World Championship, but his potential was already well known thanks to a promising first year in the former 250cc class.
Long before that Tomizawa had hinted at his racing talent when he started racing pocketbikes at the age of just three, and at 15 the Chiba-born rider entered the Japanese Championship.
After coming second in the overall classification and winning the rookie of the year in the 125cc class in 2006, Tomizawa competed in both the 125cc and 250cc categories the following year. In his third season in 2008 he concentrated solely on the quarter-litre class, and finished runner-up.
His displays earned him invitations as a wild card in the Japanese GP in the 125cc class in 2006 and 2007. In 2008 he finished 14th in the 250cc Japanese GP, catching the interest of the CIP MOTO team, who offered him a full-time ride in the 2009 quarter-litre World Championship.
Tomizawa's debut season saw him finish in the points in nine out of the 15 races he competed in, with tenth-placed finishes at Motegi and Valencia his best results of the campaign.
In 2010 Tomizawa continued with the same team - Technomag-CIP - as he made the move to the new Moto2 category, and he tasted instant success with victory in Qatar. Tomizawa sadly passed away following injuries sustained in a crash at Misano in the 11th round of his debut season in Moto2, and he will be fondly remembered by all involved in MotoGP as one of the most popular characters in the paddock.