Azuma Kazeyama

Azuma Kazeyama (born March 15, 1988) is a Japanese race car driver. Currently a reserve driver in both the TM Master Cup and the TM Lights series for Star Team Nemoto and SpeedSOS Motorsports respectively. He is known for being a 2 time World Touring Cup Champion despite being in the series for only 4 years.

TM Junior Series
In 2009 Azuma Kazeyama joined with Ildest Racing to take their #149 for the Junior Series that year. In his rookie season Kazeyama managed to win in the round of Mansfield, his first win in a TM Sanctioned event. He was involved in a infamous accident in the finale at Decatur when he got into a collision with eventual race winner Billy Bob Childers coming across the finish.

In 2010 Kazeyama had a difficult year in the TM Junior Series as he would be off the pace of debutant teammate Quan Xing, he would have some good moments but overall his year was not too impressive, particularly coming down to the final races of the year, earning him the nickname "crash-and-drama" due to the incidents he would cause.

In 2011 Kazeyama was relegated to relief driver status as the TM Junior Series merged with the TM Lights series.

CRL Modified Series
In the same year Kazeyama was signed to the #61 Gran Turismo Bolden for SpeedSOS Motorsports in the CRL Modified series. He managed to impress winning the pole in his first race, despite having no experience in modifieds before. Kazeyama would have a up and down here, including dominating the Washington Apples Challenge at Evergreen before eventually falling back to finish third.

Kazeyama would not be back in 2010 because he would be joining the Master Cup Series for Star Nemoto.

TM Master Cup Series
In 2010 Kazeyama was initially announced to be the part time driver for Star Nemoto, however he was moved up to the third car when his pace in testing showed to be greater than their initial third driver, Kendall Worthington. For this Kazeuyama gave his CRL ride to Japanese GT veteran Haruka Sarazaki, and Kazeyama would join Star Nemoto alongside Tom Delgado and Yamino Tenchi.

Kazeyama showed some promise as he would have good runs up front, however other times he would be involved in incidents with other driversm infamously being involved in a wreck with teammate Tom Delgado in the round of Brazil due in part to him and his spotter making a error in judgement. Another incident was in the Round of Germany in which him and Charlie Waters both went for "Automotive Gymnastics" during a big wreck on lap 99. Even more infamously, he was involved in a wreck with Zach Duff in the Round of Alabama triggering a massive crash that sent Woody Watts, Brian Sendack, and Matt Taylor to the hospital, sidling the latter two for the rest of the year. Kazeyama was initially suspended from the Round of Decatur but was able to overturn it so that he would still have to qualify into the event, he would go out on lap 2 of the pre-qualifiers, ending his year.

When he wasn't involved in wrecks or incidents, he had shown to be able to run up front, such as finishing second in the Round of Grand Detour after leading a number of laps. Kazeyama finished 2010 28th in the standings.

After 2010 it was annoucned that Kazeyama would be the part-time driver for the team, making his first attempt at the 34th annual Karjala Grand Prix in which he would go out in the Pre-Qualifier rounds. Kazeyama would also attempt the 2011 Round of Indianapolis but his pit crew faltered and cost him his pre-qualifier race.

Recently Kazeyama drove for Scuderia Tutino in the Round of Japan, bringing the car home 20th despite being involved in two major incidents, people reportedly saying that it was one of the best drives for anyone in Tutino all year. He would qualify for Decatur for the first time in 2011 with the 839, regardless he would finish outside the points in the last race of the year.

In 2012 Kazeyama is still staying with Star Team Nemoto as their third driver. He will drive in relief of Tom Delgado who is being sidelined for at least the first three races of the 2012 season. He was in position for at least a podium finish at the 2012 Round of Las Vegas, but the engine on his #18 Five Guys Burgers and Fries Nemoto gave up on the final lap and had to settle for 14th.

ARLA Elite Series
Kazeyama will be running in the ARLA Elite Series 150 Laps of Dwyer along with Tom Delgado in the #87 Gold Star Security Nemoto for MRD Motorsports as a one-off car. He and Delgado will start 2nd after Delgado put the car on the front row in pole qualifying. However, Kazeyama's ARLA experience stopped before it even began, since Primary driver Tom Delgado was caught in two incidents with backmarkers before the first round of driver changes. Kazeyama attempted the 2011 Rockford 200, replacing Amy Patti in the #73 car. He would end up qualifying for the B-Main of the event, finishing 8th.

In 2012 Kazeyama is considered a standby driver for Tom Delgado during his part time campaign. Making this the third series where he is a reserve driver, there are also rumors that he may attempt the Japan races with Star Nemoto.

Trivia
- Azuma Kazeyama identifies himself as a Anime otaku, having won the 2007 World Touring Championship driving a Haruhi Suzumiya itasha throughout the season, he also ran a Haruhi itasha in the 2006 WTC Round of Japan. For the longest time this was believed where the 'SOS' (Meaning "SOS Brigade" in this case) name in SpeedSOS came from before the eventual change to S-Tech Autosport.

- While it is normal for Japanese drivers to have accents when giving interviews in english, Kazeyama's has been known to have a very thick accent due to his heritage. Fellow Driver/Team Owner Tom Delgado mercilessly mocks him for it and the only reason he really puts up with it is because he "Doesn't want to be anywhere on the same list as Cameron Taylor and Andrew Tammerzan."

- It's often that him and Michael Madrigal tend to get into arguments with each other as their twitters can attest to it, however both admit it is merely for fun and in most cases nothing is ment in those type of conversations they have.

- Kazeyama's hair used to be brown, however he dyed it red before the 2009 TM Junior Round of Japan for a undisclosed reason, ironicly he would join Star Team Nemoto in a primarily Red car