Kawasaki Working on Electric Sportbike
K
awasaki is busy working on
the company's first electric
sportbike. Using the EICMA
Show in Milan to show off the
chassis, motor and battery pack-
age, but being extremely coy on
any technical details.
In the accompanying video,
Kawasaki's Senior Manager, Inno-
vation Department Research and
Development Division, Yoshimoto
Matsuda, who has previously head-
ed development on the ZX-10RR
Superbike and ZX-RR MotoGP
machines, says with the electric
platform, Kawasaki has "been thor-
oughly studying—and patenting—
features ranging from packaging
and chassis geometry, to transmis-
sions and thumb brake-activated
energy recovery systems."
As such, the Kawasaki electric
motorcycle will likely come with
a gearbox, making it an anomaly
in the electric motorcycle sphere
(let's hope Kawasaki's execu-
tion of a gearbox on an electric
machine is better than the dismal
Victory Empulse of 2016).
While the motorcycle in the
video looks suspiciously like a
Ninja 400/Ninja 650, it's likely
the new Kawasaki electric bike
will come in all-new styling, so
don't read too much into what it
looks like right now. CN
VOLUME 56 ISSUE 46 NOVEMBER 19, 2019 P35
Nicol Takes Speedway Title
B
roc Nicol showed the folks back home in California what a year and a half of racing in the
British Speedway Leagues can do for a guy, winning the 2019 AMA Under-21 Speedway
National Championship on Saturday night, November 16, at Perris Raceway in Perris, California.
Starting in gate two, Nicol jumped ahead and pulled it down on long-time rival Luke Becker
going into the first turn and never looked back, as the
two riders pulled away from Dylan Ruml and Blake
Borello. Becker kept the pressure on, but at the flag,
it was Nicol by two bike lengths.
Nicol said, "Becker had first pick, and when he
chose the number one [inside] gate, I knew I had
him beat."
Wilbur Hancock, son of multi-time Speedway
World Champion Greg Hancock, proved the apple
doesn't fall far from the tree, winning the AMA 250
Long Track National Championship over Landon
Norton, Slater Lightcap and Alex Martin.
Levi Leutz won the 150 Long Track title over Jose
Navarette, Kensei Matsudaira, and Ryder Schultz.
Steve Bauer
Broc Nicol
captured the
2019 Under-21
Speedway
National
Championship at
Perris.
