 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Luca Cadalora" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(October 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Luca Cadalora | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Luca Cadalora, riding his Yamaha YZR500 at the 1989 British Grand Prix | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Italian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1963-05-17)17 May 1963 (age 62) Modena, Italy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Luca Cadalora (born 17 May 1963) is an Italian former professionalmotorcycle racer who is the1986 125 cc World Champion,1991 and1992 250 cc World Champion and 8-timePremier Class race winner. He competed inGrand Prix motorcycle racing from 1984 to 2000.[1]
Born inModena,Emilia Romagna, Cadalora began his professional motorcycle racing career in1984, riding anMBA in the 125cc world championship. In1986, he won the125cc World Championship while riding for theGarelli factory racing team. His success earned him a promotion to the 250cc class withGiacomo Agostini's MarlboroYamaha factory racing team in1986. In1991, Cadalora switched to the RothmansHonda factory racing team and won the250cc World Championship aboard anErv Kanemoto-tunedHonda NSR250.[2] He successfully defended his title with Honda in1992, claiming his third world championship.
In1993, Cadalora rose to the premier 500cc division asWayne Rainey's teammate in theKenny Roberts-Yamaha team.[2] In three seasons on the Roberts Yamaha, he displayed flashes of brilliance, finishing as high as second toMick Doohan in1994. Cadalora rejoined Kanemoto for the1996 season racing a HondaNSR500. Despite lacking any major sponsors, he still managed to finish the season in third place aboard the Kanemoto-Honda.[1][2]
For the1997 season, Cadalora got a contract as official Yamaha rider in the new Promotor Racing team backed by an Austrian businessman. However, after few races the team failed due to financial problems.WCM rescued the team with the help of aRed Bull sponsorship and Cadalora ended the season in sixth place. At the beginning of the1998 season, WCM and Cadalora lost Yamaha official support. He returned to the Rainey-Yamaha works team for a few races to replace an injuredJean-Michel Bayle, then helped develop the newMuZ race bike. In1999 he was again with MuZ. Cadalora finished his career withKenny Roberts'Modenas team in 2000.[1][2]
Cadalora retired with 34 Grand Prix victories in three different classes.[1]
| Class | Season | 1st GP | 1st Pod | 1st Win | Race | Win | Podiums | Pole | FLap | Pts | WChmp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 125cc | 1984–1986 | 1984 Nations | 1984 Germany | 1986 Germany | 25 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 153 | 1 |
| 250cc | 1987–1992 | 1987 Japan | 1987 Spain | 1988 Germany | 87 | 22 | 39 | 15 | 19 | 950 | 2 |
| 500cc | 1989, 1993–2000 | 1989 Great Britain | 1993 Great Britain | 1993 Great Britain | 83 | 8 | 24 | 8 | 6 | 827 | 0 |
| Total | 1984–2000 | 195 | 34 | 72 | 29 | 30 | 1930 | 3 |
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Pos. | Pts | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | ||||
| 2000 | Ducati | RSA | RSA | AUS | AUS | JPN | JPN | GBR Ret | GBR 17 | ITA | ITA | GER | GER | SMR | SMR | SPA | SPA | USA | USA | EUR | EUR | NED | NED | GER | GER | GBR | GBR | NC | 0 |
| |
