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 adjusted grid which took the results of race 1 into account. After the start, Kensei fought his way up to 8th position but in the final corner was forced wide and finished the race in 10th. Kensei finished just 1.3 seconds behind the race winner, and along the way set the 3rd fastest lap time of the race and the fastest sector times in 2 out of 4 sectors.
“Honestly I can never be happy with a DNF, but I’m leaving Jerez with a smile on my face,” Kensei said on Sunday after the races. “The goal is to be there in the top group, and I accomplished that in both races even though I crashed out of the first one. The free practice sessions were a little hard because getting a draft makes a big difference here, and I struggled with that the first two days. But I knew in the races we would all be together so I just focused on staying with the top guys. The racing is so close, I passed and got passed so many times but I was able to move forward and still get some really good times in, so I’m happy that I was able to be there to the end. A top 10 finish to start the season is great too. I’m already looking forward to the next race!”
Even before making his RFME ESBK championship debut this year, Kensei has been racing at the national level in Spain since 2019. Starting with MiniGP bikes, Kensei moved up to the highly competitive Moto5 category in 2022 and in his first year racing the 250cc GP bikes in the 8-race RFME Copa de España de MiniVelocidad championship, he scored 4 podiums in a row including a race win, and completed the Spanish national championship in 2nd place. He also finished 5th in the 14-race Cuna de Campeones Moto5 Spanish championship despite missing 2 races due to schedule conflicts. In the US, Kensei is a 3-time MotoAmerica Mini Cup by Motul champion, having taken the 110cc and 160cc crowns in 2021 and the Ohvale GP-2 190cc crown in 2022. He is also the first FIM MiniGP World Series North America champion.
Round 2 of the RFME ESBK championship will be held at MotorLand Aragón in Alcañiz, Spain on April 15-16, 2023.
Kensei and the Evike.com Nox#27 Racing Team would like to thank all of Kensei’s sponsors for their support this year: Evike.com, Evike Europe, HJC Helmets, Dave Designs, Almassera El Teular, OrangeCat Racing, Iconic Motorbikes, Bison Track, Moto Tecnica, Karen E. Ott Photography, BSP Racing, American Racing Team & Academy, The Starting Grid, TJ Corse, VNM Sport, NLAB Studio, California Superbike School, MadLabs Minimoto, Hans King, 73 Moto Parts, D.I.D Chain, Galfer USA, Bickle Racing, Yoshimura R&D, Vortex Racing, Suspension Matters, Moto Survival School, Live 100 Moto, TechSpec, Landers Racing, Boyko Racing, Mini Moto Alliance
