Kawasaki

Busman's Holiday – What MotoGP Can Learn From WorldSBK

By David Emmett | Wed, 26/04/2023 - 17:54

For a long time, I was unable to visit my home round of the WorldSBK series. (As an immigrant, I have either 0, 1, or 2 home rounds, depending on your particular perspective or prejudice.) That was because Dorna had the irritating habit of putting the Dutch round of WorldSBK at Assen on the same weekend as the Austin round of MotoGP. Assen is 90 minutes from my house, so I can visit any time I like, but I don't get a lot of opportunities to head to Texas. So I would get on a plane to the US, and rue another lost opportunity.

Austin MotoGP Friday Round Up: Bumps, Surprises, and Who Has Been Fast So Far

By David Emmett | Sat, 15/04/2023 - 05:13

So far, the 2023 season has started very similarly to the 2022 season. Portimão saw a bunch of riders crash out and get injured, Argentina was typically low grip, with the weather adding in a curveball. We've had surprise winners, and an unexpected championship leader, Marco Bezzecchi taking over from Pecco Bagnaia at the top of the tables.

The Grand Prix of The Americas is following that familiar pattern. Sure, Jorge Martin is fastest overall, hardly a surprise given the Pramac Ducati rider's renown for punching out a fast lap. Even when felled by fever, and unable to do more than two fast laps in a row, Martin still managed to find the speed for one fast lap, good enough to get within a couple of tenths of the outright pole record (held, you will doubtless be shocked to hear, by Jorge Martin).

And sure, Pecco Bagnaia was second quickest, the reigning world champion back to his old self after his minor but costly mistake in Argentina. The factory Ducati rider is comfortable and fast, both in qualifying and in race trim.

Mandalika WorldSBK Round Up: Steve English On Toprak's Return, Locatelli's Rise, Racing Incidents, And Harsh Words Exchanged

By Steve English | Mon, 13/03/2023 - 23:32

Two rounds into the WorldSBK season and it already feels that the back is broken on the season. After the shortest winter in memory, some team personnel said that they had just a few days off over Christmas, it’s been a hectic time for the paddock. This week will be a rare chance to catch their breath but with tests in Aragon, Montmelo and Assen on the schedule for teams it’s clear that there’s still plenty of work to be done!

After a hard winter, Indonesia should have been a reward for much of the paddock. With the track sitting on the stunning coastline of Lombok it’s a perfect holiday destination. Good weather, nice hotels, white sand and local cuisine makes for a perfect destination. Unfortunately, that postcard image didn’t quite work out for most teams. Food poisoning seemed to affect half the paddock and the weekend became a test of endurance on and off track.

It’s been a long, hard winter and this was the culmination of that for many...

Toprak wins again

Yamaha know the challenge they are facing in 2023; a horde of fast Ducati’s that can be competitive everywhere. For Toprak Razgatlioglu that means he has to be perfect week in and week out. Australia was far from that objective for the Turkish star, and with Alvaro Bautista having claimed five wins from six races it was critical that Toprak would win at least one race in Indonesia.

Phillip Island WorldSBK Round Up: Steve English On How The Five Superbike Factories Fared

By Steve English | Wed, 01/03/2023 - 23:04

A hat-trick of wins for Alvaro Bautista, two Sunday podiums for Michael Ruben Rinaldi and even a double race win in the Supersport class meant that Australia was absolutely perfect for Ducati. With his likely title rivals faltering it was even better for Bautista. Steve English looks back on Round 1 of the Superbike World Championship

Perfect weekend for Bautista and Ducati

Stop the presses: Ducati are a juggernaut! It’s hardly news that Ducati, winners of both MotoGP and WorldSBK titles in 2022, are strong. It was perhaps a little bit startling to see just how strong they were in Phillip Island for the opening round of the Superbike season though. With four bikes inside the top five, they were able to take advantage of Kawasaki’s stuttering start to the campaign and a crash for Toprak Razgatlioglu but even so it was a perfect start to the campaign for them.

With Axel Bassani and Philipp Oettl finishing fourth and fifth in Sunday’s 22 lap finale it was clear just how good the Panigale V4R was working in Australia. It was also likely that Alvaro Bautista would claim a hat-trick of race wins at Round 1 and that Michael Ruben Rinaldi would make progress and be strong, but Bassani and Oettl’s Sundays were very newsworthy.

2023 World Superbike Preview: Kawasaki - Will Better Electronics Help Them Take The Fight To Ducati?

By Steve English | Fri, 24/02/2023 - 14:34

An updated Kawasaki ZX10-RR is the key to their title chances, but will it be enough? Steve English checks in on Kawasaki’s winter

Six years of unprecedented success has been followed by two fallow years for Jonathan Rea and Kawasaki. The most successful Superbike rider of all time was at his best last year but it still wasn’t good enough. The challenge of overcoming the limitations of the Kawasaki in a straight fight with Alvaro Bautista was too much and over the winter the green army has regrouped for their next battle.

To help with their chances this year Kawasaki has made some changes to the personnel. Rea has a new electronics engineer, Sander Donkers, who has moved across from BSB where he most recently worked with Glenn Irwin at Honda. Donkers brings with him plenty of MotoGP and WorldSBK experience, and with Christophe Lambert having switched from PATA Yamaha to work as a bridge between Rea and Alex Lowes it’s been an interesting change for a team that has made stability its calling card.

“The new ideas from the electronics were impressive,” said Rea ahead of the opening round. “Inside the team we have a lot of knowledge from the past so having new ideas from outside is very good. We tested in the cool conditions when the grip was good but what we need to improve is in the hotter conditions. We have to be stronger at the end of races though and that’s where the warmer weather is important for us to test in.”

Gordon Ritchie WorldSBK Blog: Double Top?

By Gordon Ritchie | Mon, 20/02/2023 - 22:45

Gordon Ritchie has covered World Superbikes for over a quarter of a century, and is widely regarded as the world's leading journalist on the series. MotoMatters.com is delighted to be hosting a monthly blog by Ritchie.

Everybody’s a pundit when it comes to who will win the championship each time the WorldSBK season starts. Especially in a season that will kick off in its regular late February time slot, making it the first of the big championships out of the traps.

Does WorldSBK Need A Minimum Combined Bike/Rider Weight?

By David Emmett | Sun, 30/10/2022 - 23:38

Last week, the debate over the role of rider weight was reignited by a post on Instagram by BMW WorldSBK rider Scott Redding, comparing his own weight to that of Aruba.it Ducati's Alvaro Bautista, and asking whether there needs to be a minimum combined rider/bike weight in WorldSBK. To back up his claim, he posted some video clips and sector analysis from the San Juan Villicum circuit in Argentina. "I just think it should be as fair as possible for all of the riders," Redding wrote.

Though the sentiment is admirable, the thing about motorcycle racing is it is fundamentally unfair. Somebody else's bike will always be better than yours. Some other rider will be lighter, stronger, have it easier than you in one way or another. That is of little comfort to those racing in a particular class at a specific event, but it remains true nonetheless.

The way this has traditionally been dealt with is through what is usually called "the package". The combination of bike, team, and rider is different for each competitor, and rule makers have attempted to create space in each class to allow riders and teams to find multiple ways to be competitive.

Horses for courses

That does mean that each class requires a different set of specifications, depending on the philosophical starting point for that class. There are combined weight rules in Moto3 (152kg), Moto2 (217kg), and World Supersport (between 239kg and 244kg, depending on the bike). The reason for having a minimum combined weight in those classes comes down to a single, simple factor: in one way or another, the bikes in those classes are restricted from producing enough power to overcome the difference in combined weight.

Alex Lowes Interview: "The best thing about a tough season is that the next one is is a new slate"

By Steve English | Mon, 04/07/2022 - 15:49

Four rounds into the WorldSBK season Alex Lowes heads into his home round trying to get back to where he wants to be. After the hardest season of his professional career he’s rebuilt his body following a series of serious injuries and now feels ready to put his hard work to use and get back to challenging at the front of the field.

Last year, his second with the Kawasaki Racing Team, was trying. The injuries mounted up from even before the first round of the year with a flat track crash leaving the Englishman with a serious shoulder injury. The Grade 4 separation of his AC joint was enough to severely curtail his pre-season testing schedule and the opening rounds were trying affairs despite a great start to the campaign in Aragon.

Three podiums at the opening round gave Lowes and Kawasaki hope but that was the highlight of his season. Lowes would only take two more podiums in 2021 as the injuries mounted.

Through the pain

"I worked hard to get ready for the opening round of last year,” said Lowes ahead of his home round at Donington Park. “I had missed a lot of pre-season because of my shoulder injury so it was a lot of work to be ready for the start of the season. Given the shoulder injury the opening three rounds were pretty acceptable but then we tested at Navarra.

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