John Kocinski
John Kocinski is a retired motorcycle road racer whose successes include winning the 1990 250cc World Championship, and the 1997 World Superbike title. He was born on March 20th 1967 in Little Rock, Arkansas and is not married.
At 17 John was already a factory rider, for Yamaha in the AMA Championship Cup. He won the full AMA National Championship every year from 1987 to 1989, and won the 1989 Supersport race at Daytona having started 53rd in a field of 80 riders. He also took pole for the 1988 250cc US Grand Prix, and finished this and the Japan 250cc race in the top 5.
1989 was also the year of his 500cc World Championship debut. In 1990 he raced in four different championships, but the hgihlight was winning the 250cc World Championship at his first full attempt. He was a full-time 500cc racer for the next 2 years, finishing 4th and 3rd in the championship as one of a great crop of American riders including Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz.
He started 1993 in 250s, taking Suzuki's first-ever podium at this level, but switched back to 500cc mid-season. He took Cagiva's first ever dry-weather 500cc win at Laguna Seca, and came 10th overall from just 4 appearances. He opened 1994 with a win in Australia and was again 3rd in the series. However, John is also passionate about water sports, and he spent 1995 concentrating on those, as Cagiva left 500cc racing.
In 1996 he moved to World Superbikes on a Ducati, and came close to winning the title at his first attempt, before falling out with Ducati [1]. He joined Honda for 1997, and won the title with 9 wins and 7 further podiums [2]
He then returned to 500ccs, with an injury-hit 1998 and a 1999 in Erv Kanemoto's sponsorless team, without winning a race in either. He raced at home in AMA in 2000, and tested forYamaha for the next two years [3] before retiring. He is now a property developer.