Daijiro Kato (加藤 大治郎, Katō Daijirō^?, July 4, 1976 - April 20, 2003) was a Japanese Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and the 2001 World Champion in the 250cc class.

Kato was born in Saitama, and started racing miniature bikes at an early age, becoming a four-time national champion in the Japanese pocket-bike championship.

He began road racing in 1992, and entered his first Grand Prix in 1996, as a wild-card rider. In the 250cc class, Kato finished third after debuting at his home circuit of Suzuka Circuit. The next year, he won the Japanese Championship, and again entered the Japanese Grand Prix with a wild card, winning the race at this occasion.

In spite of these successes, Kato did not ride his first full Grand Prix season until 2000, when he started in the 250cc, riding a Honda. He won four races that season (of which two in Japan), and placed third in the championship. In 2001, he dominated the 250cc championship. He won no fewer than 11 races, a record in 250cc, and easily won the title. In that season season he set a new record for the most points in a single season in 250cc class with 322 points.

Marco Simoncelli (Italian pronunciation: [ˈmarko simonˈtʃɛlli]; 20 January 1987 – 23 October 2011) was an Italian motorcycle racer. He competed in the Road Racing World Championship for 10 years from 2002 to 2011. He started in the 125cc class before moving up to the 250cc class in 2006. He won the 250cc World Championship with Gilera in 2008. After four years in the intermediate class, he stepped up to the MotoGP class with the Honda Gresini Team. Simoncelli died after an accident during the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang on 23 October 2011.

Marco Simoncelli was born in Cattolica but grew up and lived in Coriano with his family since childhood. He started racing minibikes at the age of seven in his hometown of Coriano, moving on to the Italian Minimoto Championship in 1996 at the early age of nine. He won the Italian Minimoto Championship in 1999 and 2000 while also became the runner-up in the 2000 European Minimoto Championship. The following year, he stepped up to the Italian 125cc Championship and he won the title in his rookie year. In 2002, he competed and won the European 125cc Championship.

Shoya Tomizawa (富沢 祥也, Tomizawa Shōya^?) (December 10, 1990 – September 5, 2010) was a Japanese motorcycle racer. After a successful career in the All Japan Road Race Championship, he switched to MotoGP and competed in the 250cc class during 2009. In the 2010 season he rode in the newly created Moto2 class. Tomizawa won the first race of the new class, at Losail in Qatar, winning by nearly five seconds from Alex Debón and Jules Cluzel. Tomizawa died after sustaining cranial, thoracic and abdominal trauma at the San Marino Grand Prix.

Tomizawa was born in Asahi City, Chiba. He started pocket bike racing at age 3 in 1994, and moved on to minibikes around 2001. While attending Sousa High School in Chiba, majoring in English, he started to fully participate in the 125cc class of All Japan Road Race Championship and gained 2nd place for 2006 season. Rookie of the Year was an added bonus to start the fast-paced career.

Tomizawa appeared on both 125cc and 250cc class in the following year, finishing 3rd in the 125, and 8th in the 250 for 2007 season. In 2008, he focused on the 250cc class and finished 2nd with his eyes set for global challenge. Upon his high school graduation in March 2009, Tomizawa was recruited by new CIPMOTO-GP250 Team, ended his full time, first international racing year in 17th place with best results at 10th twice at Motegi and Valencia respectively riding a Honda RS250R.