IN
THE
WIND
P30
KAWASAKI
FACTORY
TEAM
LAUNCHES
FROM HOME
T
he all-conquering WorldSBK
Kawasaki Racing Team
hosted its latest new season
launch party on the outskirts of
Barcelona in Spain.
Fielding their two works riders,
Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes
again in 2018, their shiny new ZX-
10RR race bike was already fast
in testing, the latest, much less
rev-hungry Ninja (with an engine
that drops from a maximum rev
limit of 15,200 rpm to 14,100 this
year, by regulation) still expected
to be the top bike of all, espe-
cially in the hands of Rea. He has
scored three titles in succession
recently, all on slightly different
versions of the current bike, as
rules and development directions
have changed.
With the stringent new rev
rules working against them in
2018, simply to try and slow down
the Ninja express and make the
championship more open and
closer as they have had a greater
reduction than anybody else, Ka-
wasaki has clearly taken a tough
stance for the first time.
They obviously feel all these
new, and possibly even tighter
rules in midseason, are unfair
meddling by the powers that be
in their finely honed WorldSBK
on-track efforts. The organizers
and the FIM can award further
rev limit drops, in blocks of 250
rpm at a time, through the com-
ing year. Kawasaki thinks they
know who they may be aimed at
most directly.
That evident corporate displea-
sure, and determination to over-
come all obstacles put in their
path anyway, has a name now. To
be exact, a hashtag: #NinjaSpirit.
It has been teased at the foot
of a few recent media releases,
but explained finally as accepting
any new challenge, of never giv-
ing up, and any other number of
positive motivational approaches
to this year's racing.
World Champion Rea was
asked at the team launch to
explain what the new motto of
NinjaSpirit meant to him. He
stated it was about, "never giving
up, and each year always striving
to be better." For Sykes it was
more about, "pure racing heri-
tage, always associating Ninja
with speed and durability."
It seems, from outside at least,
that Kawasaki has now taken
quite a solidly hard stance in their
collective annoyance at what
they see as new rules designed
to affect them more than anybody
else.
Everybody still sees Rea and
Kawasaki as the most likely to
succeed again in 2018, es-
pecially given their prowess
in recent winter tests on a full
2018 bike, with a 14,100 rpm
ceiling, not a 15,200 one as last
year. If enough engine revs are
lost, development frozen and
the season-long gearing choice
issues (that almost all major
teams have toiled with so far)
start to bite savagely enough,
the Kawasaki riders may well
need all the spirit they can
bring to bear on their Ninjas.
But probably not in the first few
rounds at least. To learn what
the boss Yoshimoto Matsuda
had to say on the new regula-
tions, click here.
Gordon Ritchie
New rules, but Kawasaki (and others) still feel they
will be the ones to beat in WorldSBK in 2018.
