Quick Facts
Biography
Luca Cadalora (born May 17, 1963) is an Italian former Grand Prix motorcycle road racing world champion.
Racing career
Cadalora was born in Modena, Emilia Romagna.
He began his professional motorcycle racing career in 1984, riding an MBA in the 125cc world championship. In 1986, he won the 125cc World Championship while riding for the Garelli factory racing team. His success earned him a promotion to the 250cc class with Giacomo Agostini's Marlboro Yamaha factory racing team in 1986. In 1991, Cadalora switched to the Rothmans Honda factory racing team and won the 250cc World Championship aboard an Erv Kanemoto-tuned Honda NSR250. He successfully defended his title with Honda in 1992, claiming his third world championship.
In 1993 he rose to the blue riband 500cc division as Wayne Rainey's team mate in the Kenny Roberts-Yamaha team. In three seasons on the Roberts Yamaha, he displayed flashes of brilliance, finishing as high as second to Mick Doohan in 1994. Cadalora rejoined Kanemoto for the 1996 season racing a Honda NSR500. Despite lacking any major sponsors, he still managed to finish the season in third place aboard the Kanemoto-Honda.
For the 1997 season, he 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 a Red Bull sponsorship and Cadalora ended the season in sixth place. At the beginning of the 1998 season, WCM and Cadalora lost Yamaha official support. He returned to the Rainey-Yamaha works team for a few races to replace an injured Jean-Michel Bayle, then helped develop the new MuZ race bike. In 1999 he was again with MuZ. Cadalora finished his career with Kenny Roberts' Modenas team in 2000.
He retired with 34 Grand Prix victories in three different classes.
Races by year
Grand Prix career statistics
Points system from 1969 to 1987:
| Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Points | 15 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Points system from 1988 to 1992:
| Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| Points | 20 | 17 | 15 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Points system from 1993 onwards:
| Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| Points | 25 | 20 | 16 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Class | Team | Machine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Points | Rank | Wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 125cc | ELIT MBA | MBA 125 | NAT 5 | ESP NC | GER 2 | FRA 12 | NED NC | GBR 6 | SWE NC | RSM 7 | 27 | 8th | 0 | ||||||||
| 1985 | 125cc | Team Italia MBA | MBA 125 | ESP NC | GER NC | NAT DNF | AUT 30 | NED 7 | BEL - | FRA - | GBR 11 | SWE - | RSM - | 4 | 17th | 0 | ||||||
| 1986 | 125cc | Team Italia Garelli | Garelli 125 | ESP 4 | NAT 4 | GER 1 | AUT 1 | NED 1 | BEL NC | FRA 1 | GBR 3 | SWE 2 | RSM 2 | BWU 2 | 122 | 1st | 4 | |||||
| 1987 | 250cc | Marlboro Yamaha | TZ250 | JPN 13 | ESP 2 | GER 5 | NAT 11 | AUT NC | YUG - | NED 15 | FRA 15 | GBR NC | SWE 2 | CZE 5 | RSM 2 | POR 9 | BRA 6 | ARG 4 | 63 | 7th | 0 | |
| 1988 | 250cc | Marlboro Yamaha | TZ250 | JPN NC | USA 6 | ESP 7 | EXP NC | NAT 5 | GER 1 | AUT 7 | NED 4 | BEL 8 | YUG 5 | FRA 6 | GBR 1 | SWE NC | CZE 3 | BRA DNF | 138 | 6th | 2 | |
| 1989 | 250cc | Marlboro Yamaha | TZ250 | JPN 3 | AUS 3 | USA 3 | ESP 1 | NAT NC | GER 11 | AUT NC | YUG DNF | NED NC | BEL 5 | FRA 11 | GBR NC | SWE 5 | CZE 6 | BRA 1 | 127 | 5th | 2 | |
| 500cc | Marlboro Yamaha | YZR500 | JPN - | AUS - | USA - | ESP - | NAT - | GER - | AUT - | YUG - | NED - | BEL - | FRA - | GBR 8 | SWE - | CZE - | BRA - | 8 | 26th | 0 | ||
| 1990 | 250cc | Marlboro Yamaha | TZ250 | JPN 1 | USA 2 | ESP 2 | NAT NC | GER 10 | AUT 1 | YUG 4 | NED NC | BEL NC | FRA 2 | GBR 1 | SWE 4 | CZE 4 | HUN 4 | AUS 3 | 184 | 3rd | 3 | |
| 1991 | 250cc | Rothmans Honda | NSR250 | JPN 1 | AUS 1 | USA 1 | ESP 2 | ITA 1 | GER 4 | AUT 5 | EUR 1 | NED 2 | FRA 5 | GBR 1 | RSM 1 | CZE 3 | VDM 3 | MAL 1 | 237 | 1st | 8 | |
| 1992 | 250cc | Rothmans Honda | NSR250 | JPN 1 | AUS 1 | MAL 1 | ESP 4 | ITA 1 | EUR 1 | GER 4 | NED 2 | HUN 1 | FRA 3 | GBR 4 | BRA 1 | RSA 6 | 203 | 1st | 7 | |||
| 1993 | 500cc | Marlboro Yamaha | YZR500 | AUS 8 | MAL NC | JPN DNF | ESP 5 | AUT 5 | GER 8 | NED 7 | EUR 15 | RSM 5 | GBR 1 | CZE 2 | ITA 1 | USA 3 | FIM DNF | 145 | 5th | 2 | ||
| 1994 | 500cc | Marlboro Yamaha | YZR500 | AUS 2 | MAL 4 | JPN 4 | ESP DNF | AUT 22 | GER - | NED 9 | ITA 2 | FRA 7 | GBR 3 | CZE 3 | USA 1 | ARG 6 | EUR 1 | 174 | 2nd | 2 | ||
| 1995 | 500cc | Marlboro Yamaha | YZR500 | AUS 4 | MAL DNF | JPN 4 | ESP 2 | GER 2 | ITA 12 | NED 7 | FRA 2 | GBR 5 | CZE 1 | BRA 1 | ARG 3 | EUR DNF | 176 | 3rd | 2 | |||
| 1996 | 500cc | Kanemoto Honda | NSR500 | MAL 1 | INA 6 | JPN DNF | ESP 2 | ITA 3 | FRA 6 | NED DNF | GER 1 | GBR 9 | AUT 4 | CZE DNF | IMO 6 | CAT 4 | BRA 6 | AUS 7 | 168 | 3rd | 2 | |
| 1997 | 500cc | Promotor Yamaha | YZR500 | MAL 4 | JPN 11 | ESP 11 | 129 | 6th | 0 | |||||||||||||
| WCM Yamaha | ITA 2 | AUT 3 | FRA DNF | NED DNF | IMO 6 | GER DNF | BRA 3 | GBR 5 | CZE 2 | CAT 4 | INA DNF | AUS DNF | ||||||||||
| 1998 | 500cc | Rainey Yamaha | YZR500 | JPN - | MAL - | ESP - | ITA - | FRA 6 | MAD DNF | 10 | 23rd | 0 | ||||||||||
| Suzuki | RGV500 | NED DNF | GBR - | GER - | CZE - | IMO - | CAT - | AUS - | ||||||||||||||
| MuZ-Weber | MuZ 500 | ARG DNF | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1999 | 500cc | MuZ-Weber | MuZ 500 | MAL DNF | JPN - | ESP 8 | FRA DNF | ITA 10 | CAT DNF | NED DNS | GBR - | GER DNF | CZE DNF | IMO - | VAL - | AUS - | RSA - | BRA - | ARG - | 14 | 20th | 0 |
| 2000 | 500cc | Roberts Modenas | KR3 | RSA - | MAL - | JPN - | ESP - | FRA - | ITA - | CAT - | NED - | GBR - | GER 14 | CZE 15 | POR - | VAL - | BRA - | PAC - | AUS - | 3 | 27th | 0 |
Superbike World Championship Results
| 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 |