is a retired Grand Prix

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix is the premier championship of motorcycle road racing currently divided into three distinct classes: 125cc, Moto2 and MotoGP. The 125cc class uses a two-stroke engine while Moto2 and MotoGP use four-stroke engines. In 2010 the 250cc two-stroke was replaced...

 motorcycle

Motorcycle

A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...

 road racer

Road racing

Road racing is a general term for most forms of motor racing held on paved, purpose-built race tracks , as opposed to oval tracks and off-road racing...

 from Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. He was runner-up in the 1993 F1 All-Japan Road Racing Championship. He won the Superbike World Championship

Superbike World Championship

Superbike World Championship is the worldwide Superbike racing Championship. The championship was founded in . The Superbike World Championship season consists of a series of rounds held on permanent racing facilities...

 round at Sugo

Sportsland SUGO

is a motorsports facility located in the town of Murata, Shibata District, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. It opened in 1975 and is one of the largest motorsports facilities in Japan, with a total area of 2.1 million m²...

 as a wild card rider for Suzuki

Suzuki

is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Hamamatsu, Japan that specializes in manufacturing compact automobiles and 4x4 vehicles, a full range of motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles , outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal combustion engines...

. Kitagawa coming 16th in the season's overall standings. He was a semi-regular in the Superbike World Championship in , finishing 17th overall with a best finish of 4th, on a Kawasaki

Kawasaki Heavy Industries

is an international corporation based in Japan. It has headquarters in both Chūō-ku, Kobe and Minato, Tokyo.The company is named after its founder Shōzō Kawasaki and has no connection with the city of Kawasaki, Kanagawa....

. Kitagawa finished 2nd in the Suzuka 8 Hours

Suzuka 8 Hours

The is a motorcycle endurance race held at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan each year. As the name implies, the race runs for eight hours consecutively and teams are composed of two riders and one alternate.-History:...

 race, teamed with Akira Ryo

Akira Ryo

is a Japanese motorcycle road racer and development rider. He was All-Japan Superbike champion in 2001. He was also runner-up in 1996 and third in 1999, part of a long run of top-10 series finishes. He finished 3rd in the Suzuka 8 Hours race in 1997, teamed with Shinja Takeishi. He and Keiichi...

. He was also a three-time winner of the Bol d'or

Bol d'or

The Bol d'or is a motorcycle endurance race, held annually in France. Originally, it was an automobile as well as motorcycle race. The automobiles were limited to 1100cc engine capacity until the 1950s when the limit was raised to 1500cc, and later to 2000cc...

 endurance race. He retired from racing at the end of 2003, after winning the 2002 and 2003 Endurance World Championship

Endurance World Championship

Endurance World Championship is the premier worldwide endurance motorcycle racing championship. The championship season consists of a series of races held on permanent racing facilities. The results of each race are combined to determine two annual World Championships, one for teams and one for...

.