CN
III ARCHIVES
P112
KZ650
RISES
BY LARRY LAWRENCE
J
im Knipp and his Kawasaki
KZ650 road racer were leg-
endary in the Midwestern club-
racing scene in the early 1980s.
Indianapolis-based Knipp and
his GP-looking KZ won dozens
of WERA races and eventually
the WERA C Superbike National
Championship in 1981. Knipp
was a rider on the rise and was
looking to move up to the AMA
Superbike ranks, so the Kawa-
saki was sold to make way for a
Honda Superbike and eventually
Knipp lost track of the machine.
Many years went by and the
bike would have likely ended
up in a scrap heap somewhere
Jim Knipp standing
with his beautifully
restored Kawasaki
at the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway
in June of 2017.
PHOTO: LARRY LAWRENCE
