Kawasaki is set return to World Championship competition after a twenty-year absence with the four-stroke Ninja ZX-RR.
Kawasaki is set return to World Championship competition after a twenty-year absence with the four-stroke Ninja ZX-RR.
The Japanese factory have spent the 2002 season developing a new four-stroke Grand Prix machine which will challenge for the MotoGP title in 2003. The Ninja Zx-RR makes its debut in the elite class on Friday at the Gauloises Pacific Grand Prix of Motegi.
Within their development programme Kawasaki have also entered the Ninja ZX-RR into the All Japan Superbike Championship, with test rider Akira Yanagawa at the helm.
Yanagawa, who will ride the distinctive green machine as a wildcard, began his career in the Japanese 250 Championship in 1990 after racing pocket bikes throughout his youth. From 1997 to 2000, he competed in the WSBK series and now faces his biggest ever challenge as he enters the MotoGP fray for the first time.
“We tested the current bike at Autopolis and the lap times were better than the machine we have been developing in the All Japan,” Yanagawa said this week.
“I think it has great potential although there are always problems in a new project. We have not spent much time with the bike on the track and we still have many areas to adjust, but the bike has a great future and this weekend I will be giving my all so that the fans can enjoy the race,” he added.
