Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127988
Akira Yanagawa's Kawasaki ZX·7RR Kawasaki's ZX-7RR took a step backward during the 1998 season. By Alan Cathcart Photos by Gus van Goethem and Kel Edge IE ~ c( 20 he 1998 season was not one that Kawasaki will want to remember. Not only did the ZX-7RR green screamies narrowly fail to regain their coveted World Endurance title, they also carne off second best at the National level, as runners-up in the AMA and British Superbike series, though they narrowly retained their Aussie crown, thanks to Marty Craggill. But, most disappointing of all, Akira Yanagawa and new recruit Neil Hodgson, on the factory bikes, failed to live up to their preseason pretensions as 'dark horses for success in the World Superbike Championship, where by the end of '97 Harald Eckl's German-based works Kawasaki team seemed to have gotten the measure of turning the ultrashort-stroke ZX-7RR into a true contender for top honors. Remember, it was only thanks to kamikaze John Kocinski that Simon Crafar was denied victory aboard his Eckl Kawasaki in the final race of that year at Sentul before departing for pastures new in 500cc GP racing. His replacement, Neil Hodgsoh, must have been convinced he had made a smart move by joining a team on the upward swing. Sadly for Neil, as well as for Kawasaki fans around the world, that's not the way it turned out. With Yanagawa setting a blistering pace in preseason testing at Shah Alam on an evolution ver- sion of the '97 bike, the Eckl team's confidence was sky-high as they moved to Phillip Island for a final session of testing, followed a week later by the first round of the '98 World Series. That's when it all started to go wrong, though. The new '98 bikes delivered to the Island were nowhere near as effective as the ones they replaced: Kawas.aki had flattered to deceive. Seven fifth places for Akira later, the second-half-season action moved on to Laguna Seca, without the Kawasakis ever having shone as expected, Hodgson's fourth place at Monza being the closest they had gotten to the rostrum with a bike that was proving to be a shadow of its former self. It wasn't just a question of failing to keep up with the opposition - they often weren't even matching their own '97 lap times, either. But at Laguna Seca, things seemed to click, with Akira passing AMA National Champion Doug Chandler's Muzzy Kawasaki for second place behind a cruising Corser in ra.ce one, before a freak accident saw the two bikes collide, leaving Yanagawa seriously injured. Yet, amazingly, the popular Japanese rider made a gritty comeback just two rounds later in Austria, clocking up his best results of the season there with a pair of fourth places. Then, in the final round of the championship on horne ground at Sugo, Akira ran at the front of the field ~ll weekend long, clocking up fourth in the first race and - at last Kawasaki's first (and only) rostrum fin- ish of the season, with second place in the last race of the year. All things considered, perhaps seventh in the final points standings wasn't too bad - but not only was this one place behind his keen compatriot rival Haga on the neo-vintage Yamaha, it was also a long way short of what both the Kawasaki team and WSC observers had been expecting at the front en.d of the season - me included. After riding Yanagawa's ZX-7RR at Sentul a couple'of days after the end of the '97 season, I'd been so impressed with the bike - as well as Akira-san's development as a World-class rider - I'd gone and tipped him in print as an outside chance to beat Troy, Frankie, Carl and Aaron for the '98 title. Hah! Glad 1 didn't bet my shirt on that one. However, having done so made me look forward all the more to finding out for myself where Kawasaki's R&D ):lad gone astray, by riding Yanagawa's bike at Assen the day after he'd finished a soso sixth and seventh in the two Dutch rounds. Some questions needed to be addressed. It didn't take long to answer them, though - just a single warmup lap to dial myself in to riding the Kawi half an hour after stepping- off Jamie Whitham's works Suzuki, in fact. Starting my first flying lap, I braked hard into the short Assen circuit's tight Nationale-Bocht turn one, picked the Zee-bike.up to use the fat part of the rear 16.5-inch Dunlop to get good drive on the exit, cracked the throttle open quite cautiously - well, it was my first proper lap, remember - then found myself having to cope with a vicious rear-wheel slide on the off-camber tarmac. Tut, tuVA.c. - get those tires cooking before you try to be a hero. However, one lap later, exiting the chicane, it turned out that's not the problem, with a repeat dose of wheelspin -delivered by the vivid-action throttle response. This is a green-tinted leopard that changed its spots. Big time. When I rode Akira-san's ZX-7RR at Sentul one year before, it was a couple of days after testing the -title-winning. Castrol Hondas on the same circuit. Wha t had impressed me sq much about the Kawasaki then was the way it handled, thanks to its long, low-slung chassis layout - changing direction as easily as any twin, shrugging off bumps and holding a line under power perfectly, maxing out the good, controllable grip of the rear Dunlop. And though Kawasaki had improved low-end and midrange pickup of the ultra-short-stroke engine - at 73 x 44.7mm, oy some way the shortest in the Superbike paddock - as well as increasing top-end power to over 165 bhp, they had improved its overall performance considerably over its lackluster debut season the year before (when only the genius of Anthony Gobert could make it a race winner), yet without sacrificing ridability. The Kawasaki picked up revs fast en route to the 14,500-rpm power peak, yet didn't unhook the rear wheel when you got on the gas exiting a lowor medium-speed turn. Only, now, it does. The remaining chink in the Z-bike's armor which Kawasaki engineers obviously tried to address this season was something I'd commented on at Sentul when comparing it to the Hondas I'd been riding just beforehand: that missing zap out of a turn when you get back on the throttle to dial up some drive. Yet in trying to deliver that for '98 via new camshafts (stiU gear-driven, not chain), a higher compression ratio, a revised ignition and a modified, lighter crankshaft, Kawasaki ended up taking away more than they gave. In delivering considerably improved pickup at low rpm and more-explosive acceleration, they did so at the expense of a light-switch throttle response. That has you spinning the rear wheel in second- and third-gear turns, makes getting even partially on the gas again from a closed throttle a potential hurdle to negotiate instead of a treat in store when you twist that wrist, and provokes problems of hooking up the rear end to get drive out of a turn, which didn't exist before. It also makes you glad that the Kawasaki wears more-forgiving Dunlop rubber rather than Michelins, which either grip or don't, and it also gives rise to stability problems exiting a tum hard on the power, if you don't have the suspension perfectly dialed in. This is a tough bike to set up proper!y, says Eckl - and a hard one to ride. For in '98 guise, the Kawasaki has jettisoned the smooth, progressive pickup from way low in slower turns tha t its predecessor had, before the needle starts to scoot quicker around the dial once you hit the 11grand mark. Now, there's nobody home below 8000 rpm, at which mark the power arrives in a great rush, with instant pickup at any point above there in the powerband, when you open the throttle again exiting a turn. So,. while