American Kensei Matsudaira to Represent USA at FIM Speedway World Championship SGP4 Race at Malilla, Sweden Japanese-American road racer Kensei Matsudaira will make his international speedway racing debut on July 15, 2023 at the FIM Speedway GP of Sweden - Malilla. Kensei, age 12, was selected to represent the US in the FIM Speedway World Championship in the launch of the SGP4 youth category on a new entry-level world championship bike for 11 to 13 year old racers. 18 riders from around the world have been invited to race in this special one-time event at one of World Speedway s most famous venues. I ve always wanted to race speedway in Europe, so I m very excited to have this opportunity to race at a FIM Speedway World Championship race, Kensei said. I m proud to represent the US and American speedway, and hoping to do as well as I can to make Team USA Speedway proud. Team USA Speedway manager Steve Evans added,
American Kensei Matsudaira Masters Mixed Conditions to Take Podium in Valencia, Spain for ESBK Moto4 Championship Round 3 On Saturday [May 13], 12-year-old American Kensei Matsudaira scored a second-place finish at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, Spain, his first official podium in the RFME ESBK (Campeonato de España de Superbike) Moto4 Championship. Starting from 10th on the grid, Kensei worked his way forward as rain started falling on the second lap. Even as the rain grew stronger and other riders crashed out, by lap five Kensei had moved into third position and began closing in on the lead rider. By lap eight, Kensei had moved into second position and closed the gap to the top from over six seconds to just two seconds, but the race was red-flagged after the eighth lap due to worsening weather conditions and the race was called, securing Kensei s second place finish in the race. Sunday saw clear skies and for Race Two, Kensei started from
American Kensei Matsudaira Finishes P4 and P2 in MotorLand Aragón at RFME ESBK Moto4 Championship Round 2, Faces First Podium Loss Due to a Technicality After topping the the timesheets on Friday with what would be the fastest lap time of the weekend, 12-year old American Kensei Matsudaira completed Round Two of the RFME ESBK (Campeonato de España de Superbike) Moto4 Championship at MotorLand Aragón in Spain with a fourth place finish just 0.2 seconds behind the race winner in Race One, and a photo-finish second place in Race Two, just 0.04 seconds behind the winner. The elation after Kensei s first podium in the Moto4 championship was short-lived as the Technical Director of ESBK moved to disqualify Kensei s results after observing the kick starter mechanism was not present on Kensei s bike. JR Esteve, Crew Chief of Evike.com Nox#27 Racing Team disputed the move, as the technical regulations clearly state that retention of the kick starter mechanism as recommended, not obligatory,
American Kensei Matsudaira Starts RFME ESBK Moto4 Championship with a Top 10 Finish April 3, 2023 American 12-year old Kensei Matsudaira has started his 2023 racing campaign with the Evike.com Nox#27 Racing Team in Spain with a top 10 finish in Round 1 of the RFME ESBK (Campeonato de España de Superbike) Moto4 championship held at Circuito de Jerez - Ángel Nieto in Andalusia, Spain. On Saturday in one of the biggest grids in the history of the category, Kensei qualified 9th out of 31 riders, with a lap time just 0.850 seconds off of pole position. Starting on the 3rd row, Kensei latched onto the top riders from the start and stayed in the top group until the end of lap 7 when he crashed out of 8th position in the final corner after contact with another rider. On Sunday, Kensei started morning warmup with the 7th fastest time, but would start race 2 from 12th position in the