2017 KAWASAKI NINJA ZX-10RR
TRACK TEST
P58
W
hat wins on Sunday sells on Monday. It's a racing
adage that's been around as long as production bikes
have been flying past checkered flags. That saying is
what superbike racing is built on and Kawasaki thinks you
should get a little closer to what actually races on Sunday,
so you can buy it on Monday. If you're one of the lucky 500
to get your hands on a 2017 Kawasaki
ZX-10RR, that is.
That's how many Kawasaki is
building of what will surely become a
collector's wet dream (there are more
supercharged H2 and H2R's available
than this bike). This limited-edition
machine is infused with WorldSBK win-
ner's champagne, the result of three
championships in four years thanks to
Tom Sykes (2013) and Jonathan Rea
(2015 and 2016). Kawasaki is building
only 500 RR's because that's the mini-
mum number a manufacturer needs to
have a model homologated for WorldS-
BK racing—hence the reason you'll see
Rea and Sykes running the RR on the
side of their race weapons next year.
For you and I, however, the arrival of
the RR represents a shift in the think-
ing of the Japanese manufacturers.
For years the special race homologa-
tion model was the domain of the Ital-
ians (mainly Ducati but also MV Agusta
and to a lesser extent, BMW with the
HP4), and this year alone we will see
race-orientated specials from Honda,
Suzuki and Kawasaki to go along with
the Yamaha YZF-R1 SP from 2015.
There's never been a better—or fast-
er—time to get into superbike racing.
RACE READY
Black beauty:
the 2017 ZX-
10RR looks
stunning in
the metal and
goes even
better.
