TEAM 38 BONNEVILLE SPEED CHALLENGE VIDEO

Team 38, an independent racing team made up of Kawasaki engineers and test riders, were in America to compete in this year’s Bonneville Speed Week motorsports event held at the Bonneville Salt Flats from August 11th through 17th. Entering the P-PB 1000 class, for production models with supercharged engines up to 1000 cm3, the team succeeded in setting a world speed record of 209.442 mph (337.064 km/h) on the Kawasaki flagship Ninja H2.

Bonneville Speed Week, where motorcars and motorcycles gather to challenge world land speed records, is held each year in August at the Bonneville Salt Flats, the largest of many salt flats located west of Utah’s Great Salt Lake. The well-recognised land speed event has a history stretching back more than 100 years. Riding on the salt is challenging; the surface is very slippery, so simply preparing a bike to go as fast as possible will not result in a record-setting speed. Finding a way to suppress rear wheel spin, and the rider’s skill at keeping the bike on track are both necessary components for success. And since allowable modifications are severely limited in P-PB 1000 class contested this year, the base performance of the bike is also extremely important.

On August 14, the Ninja H2 prepared by Team 38 clocked a speed of 211.621 mph (340.571 km/h). This was followed on August 15 by a return run of 207.263 mph (333.557 km/h). The average speed of the two runs 209.442 mph (337.064 km/h) was recognised as a world speed record in its class, illustrating the lofty performance of the Ninja H2.

Let the Good Times Roll.

 

Farewell Tom Sykes

Life changes. But memories last forever.

Thank-you Tom Sykes!

Let the good times roll

 

MONSTER ENERGY® KAWASAKI’S ELI TOMAC WINS “MONSTER MILLION” AND JOEY SAVATGY PODIUMS IN 450 CLASS DEBUT

 

Las Vegas is a place known for risk taking and defying the odds, and on Saturday night that is exactly what the Monster Energy® Kawasaki team did as Eli Tomac became the first two-time winner of the Monster Energy Cup, and captured the “Monster Million” by sweeping all three races. Racing in the premier class for the first time was the No.17 of Joey Savatgy, whose textbook starts and consistency throughout the night was able to land him on the podium in third place overall.

Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac started the day out by qualifying second for the night program, while teammate Joey Savatgy followed close behind in fourth position. Also joining the team for the weekend was No. 43 Tyler Bowers, who qualified in 13th place. As the sun set and the fans packed the stadium, the stage was set with a million dollar prize on the line for a rider who could win all three 10-lap races in the premier class.

In Main Event 1, Savatgy was able to snag a holeshot aboard his all-new 2019 KX™450 with his teammate Tomac in tow. Tomac was able to quickly get by Savatgy and move into the lead by lap three where he would check out from the competition for the remainder of the race. Savatgy shuffled back a few positions and finished the race in fifth place. The second race of the night was almost identical to the first with Tomac taking the holeshot this time and winning by a large margin with Savatgy crossing the line in sixth place. Unfortunately, Bowers’ night would end early after he tangled with a downed rider in Main Event 2.

The pressure was on Tomac with the largest payday in motorcycle racing as he lined up for Main Event 3 with $1,000,000 on the line, Savatgy would make it a KX450 holeshot sweep for the night as he nabbed the holeshot once again and began to check out from the field. Tomac suffered from a poor start that left him in seventh place by the end of the first lap. Tomac would spend the next nine laps hunting down the competition and slicing his way to the front. The crowd was standing on their feet and cheering as it came down to the last lap. Tomac closed the gap on his Monster Energy Kawasaki teammate and made the pass in the back section of the track to sweep the night and secure the Monster Million.

“This is crazy,” said Tomac. “To become the first two-time winner of the Monster Energy Cup and winning the “Monster Million” is just insane. My 2019 KX450 was running so well all night, our starts were dialed, the suspension was perfect; it all just came together, and I couldn’t be happier right now. It was a great team win tonight. To also have a fan defy the odds and win a million bucks because I won is just insane!”

A new wrinkle was added to this year’s Monster Energy Cup, one lucky fan, Jesse Hebert from Greenbelt, Maryland also won a $1 Million Grand Prize after successfully predicting Tomac would race his way to the “Monster Million.”

“Man, I am so pumped,” said Savatgy. “I am so thankful to be a part of this Monster Energy Kawasaki team. It truly feels like family over here and I am excited for what 2019 has to offer! My KX450 was a rocketship all night long and helped put me on the podium.”

Monster Energy® Kawasaki Team Green™ amateur riders also hit the Las Vegas track on Saturday night looking to become champions. Chance Hymas led Team Green by finishing third place in his first Monster Energy Cup race aboard his KX™100 in the Supermini class. Teammate and defending Amateur All-Star Amateur class champion Seth Hammaker put together a 2-5 performance aboard his KX™250 which saw him finish just off the podium in fourth.

ANA CARRASCO BECOMES FIRST EVER FEMALE WINNER OF FULL FIM ROAD-RACING CATEGORY IN SSP300!

Ana Carrasco (DS Junior Team Kawasaki) became the first female winner of a full FIM World Championship road-racing category when she finished just one single point ahead of her closest rival in the WorldSSP300 championship race at Magny Cours.

Starting in a lowly 25th position on the grid Carrasco was involved in a fight for 20th place for much of the race but she made progress to 19th spot. In the closing laps she moved to a 13th place that would be enough to give her a one-point lead over Mika Perez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team) in the final points table.

Perez was in a position to win the championship himself on the last sector of the final lap but his race leading position was taken from him with two corners to go, and his 20 points were not quite enough to give him the crown.

Carrasco was unaware that she had won the championship on her slowdown lap almost until her team stopped her for a trackside celebration, with her championship-winning T-shirt having the phrase ‘Ride Like A Girl” emblazoned on the front. In her post-race interview Carrasco dedicated her championship win to the late Moto2 rider Luis Salom, who was a friend of Ana’s and the cousin of David Salom, her team manager.

In another astonishingly close and battling WorldSSP300 race, Scott Deroue (Motoport Kawasaki) was also in contention for both the race and title wins until he was forced out with a technical issue.

Perez and Deroue battled it out for the championship up front but when Deroue suddenly slowed with problems changing gear, Perez was in the lead. He was then the driving seat for the championship itself until Daniel Valle ambushed him in the final two turns. Perez lost out on the title by just 0.168 seconds, in a race that was so close that Carrasco, in 13th place, was only 2.468 seconds behind the race winner.

Kawasaki wrapped up the championship at the previous round, and finally ended up with a 61-point advantage at the end of the eight round championship.

Nick Kalinin (GP Project Kawasaki was seventh today, but front row qualifier Robert Schotman (Motoport Kawasaki) did not finish. Enzo de la Vega (GP Project Team Kawasaki) led the race twice but finished ninth, while Dorren Loureiro (DS Junior Team Kawasaki) tenth. Tom Edwards (Nutec – Benjan Kawasaki) was another non-finisher.

In the final championship standings Carrasco has 93 points, Perez 92 and Deroue 80, putting three Kawasaki Ninja 400 riders in the top three positions overall.

Ana Carrasco, stated: “It is unbelievable to win the championship and we worked so hard to be here. I did not know I had won on the slowdown lap. I tried to see some TVs to check but I did not see any. I only realised when I got to turn five and I asked the spectators if I was first. I can only say thank you to a David Salom and all the Kawasaki DS Junior Team, it is for all of them. I also want to say thank you to my family who have done so much for me. I want to dedicate this title to Luis Salom. The day we lost him I promised to dedicate my first title to him. At the moment I am happy because we have achieved our goals, but I do not realise all of the things about being the first woman in history. I think after a few days I will be more conscious of this.”

Mika Perez, stated: “I gave my maximum today. I knew it was win or crash, and finally I got second. I tried everything and the team did a great job. We were very close to the win but we have to congratulate Ana and the race winner Dani because they did an incredible job.”

Scott Deroue, stated: “We had a really good weekend until now and I think we were one of the fastest. Every session we were in the top positions so I was feeling really good. I felt the same in the race and I was in the top three all the time. Then with seven laps to go my gear lever broke and it was over. We had good speed this season and were really consistent but in Misano we had a problem and today we were supposed to finish on the podium again, and then this happens.”

#NinjaSpirit

 

#Letthegoodtimesroll

JONATHAN REA(KRT) SECURES HIS FOURTH CONSECUTIVE WORLDSBK TITLE!

Jonathan Rea (KRT) completed his championship-winning weekend with a second race win on Sunday, after securing his fourth consecutive WorldSBK title on Saturday. His team-mate Tom Sykes (KRT), like Rea, started from the third row today under the reverse grid rules, and he finished fourth.

After his unprecedented fourth consecutive championship win on Saturday Jonathan Rea rode in celebration livery today, unfettered by thoughts of potential championship positions.

Starting from the ninth grid slot and with data from his first race win to help his cause in race two, he rode with freedom to go third on lap three and take the lead on lap 12.

Rea eventually beat Chaz Davies by 1.8 seconds to record his 14th win of the season so far, and his fourth double win in succession. It is still possible for Rea to even exceed the record of 17 race wins in a single season, as there are two rounds and four races remaining.

In race two Rea also set a stand-alone record for the number of podium places in WorldSBK, with a new total of 131 across his career.

Now almost fully recovered form a training injury suffered during the summer break, Sykes pushed in the early laps to go from eighth on the grid to fifth. He passed Marco Melandri in the final two laps to add a fourth place to his second place finish on Saturday.

In the championship, after 11 of 13 rounds have been completed, Rea has 470 points, Davies 335, Michael van der Mark 309 and Sykes 273.

The next round will be held at the all-new Argentine circuit of El Villicum, between the 12th and the 14th of October.

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) followed up yesterday’s eighth place with 12th today. Leandro Mercado (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) got a point for 15th as he approaches his home round next time. Roman Ramos (Team GoEleven Kawasaki) ended his Sunday in France 18th. Substitute rider Jeremy Guarnoni (Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki) was 19th.

Jonathan Rea, stated: “It was an awesome weekend. With the pressure off I was able to ride a bit more aggressively. I put myself in great positions in the first laps and found great track position early on. It proved pretty hard to get past van der Mark, as he kept counter-attacking but once I got clear track I was able to catch up to Davies. But he had, again, proved quite difficult to pass. My team gave me the perfect bike today, also in terms of final gearing. Especially on the straight, I could really make some inroads into Chaz and draw alongside. I tried to outbrake him twice and just went long, missed the apex and then he cut back. So I readjusted the strategy a little bit to go and pass on one of the other corners. My bike was turning really tight and I could see he was struggling to find that apex in turn eight. Then I made my rhythm and rode to my pit board. It was a really nice feeling.”

Tom Sykes, stated: “Overall it was not too bad and consistently we were there, but it is a little bit of the same story as we had at previous events, where we have not got the initial lap time from the race tyre. Pirelli has two rear tyre solutions and we tried both of these of the races and finally our set-up is really quite good. It has advantages and disadvantages. I felt quite comfortable on the bike in race two, but I just missed a little bit of turning. I felt good while turning yesterday but missed a bit of edge grip. We started from row three and got through the traffic, but this race was a lot closer than yesterday and there were two guys in between Jonathan and me. It was nice to actually close some guys down at the front and make some passes at the end of the races, but we just lacked the initial speed again.”

2018 KRT Rider Statistics
Jonathan Rea: World Champion 2015, 2016, 2017 & 2018
2018: Races 22, Wins 14, Podiums 19, Superpoles 2
Career Race Wins: 68 (53 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 131 (89 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 16 (12 for Kawasaki)

Tom Sykes: World Champion 2013
2018: Races: 22, Wins 1, Podiums 7, Superpoles 5
Career Race Wins: 34 (34 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 107 (106 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 47 (47 for Kawasaki)

6 x Riders’ Championships (Scott Russell 1993, Sykes 2013, Rea 2015, 2016, 2017 & 2018), 1 x EVO Riders’ Championship (David Salom 2014)
3 x Manufacturers’ Championships (Ninja ZX-10R 2015 & 2016, Ninja ZX-10RR 2017)
3 x Teams’ Championships (KRT/Provec Racing 2015, 2016 & 2017)

Kawasaki FIM Superbike World Championship Statistics
Total Kawasaki Race Wins: 124 – second overall
Total Kawasaki Podiums: 375 – third overall
Total Kawasaki Poles: 80 – second overall

#NinjaSpirit

#RE4CH4MP

 

#Letthegoodtimesroll

TOMAC SECURES CONSECUTIVE AMA PRO MOTOCROSS 450MX CHAMPIONSHIPS

Monster Energy Kawasaki rider Eli Tomac showed the true heart and determination of a champion on 25 August aboard his KX450F as he was able to successfully defend his AMA Pro Motocross title and clinch the championship for the second straight year in a row. The championship came down to the last moto of the 12 round series in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Proving persistence pays off, Tomac and the entire Monster Energy Kawasaki team popped the champagne bottles to celebrate the newly crowned two-time champion after a hard-fought season.

Tomac and the Monster Energy Kawasaki team arrived early to the track ready to get the job done, but quickly realized that the fight for the championship was not going to come easy as the rain began to pour all morning . Due to weather delays, the practice sessions were cut down to just one timed session. This meant that qualifying was going to play a huge role in determining a good gate position, which is crucial to a good start in order to stay dry and maintain clear vision. Tomac went out for qualifying in the wet conditions and set the fastest lap time with a 2:41.8; a time more than a second faster than the next quickest competitor.

As the gate dropped for Moto 1 with rain coming down, Tomac aboard his KX450F jumped out of the gate to a fifth place start where he was able to begin his attack on the field given the tricky track conditions. Through the early laps of the race and some technical navigation, Tomac was able to slide his way into second place, but became victim to the slippery conditions and slid out on Lap 7. Tomac quickly remounted in third place and pushed hard to track down the competition. Unable to bridge the gap to the race leader before the time ran out, the points leader was able to successfully pass one other rider, finishing in second place and keeping a 24-point lead going into the final moto.

The rain had come to a halt and the track began to dry as the gate dropped for Moto 2. Tomac needing to only earn one point with a finish of 20th or better to guarantee him the championship, got out to a 15th place start where he was challenged with vision issues during the early stages of the race. Acknowledging that he needed to ride smart, Tomac would eventually settle into ninth-place, where he ultimately would finish the race. Tomac rounded out the day with a 2-9 score for fourth place overall, more than enough to earn his second consecutive AMA Pro Motocross championship in the premier class.

“It’s pretty incredible,” said Tomac. “We came into the motocross season with one goal, and that was to repeat what we did last year and to accomplish that is just awesome. It has been 12 years since someone won back-to-back titles in the premier class, so that shows you how hard it is to do which makes this championship that much sweeter. I couldn’t be prouder to be a part of this Monster Energy Kawasaki team.”

450MX Race Results
1. Justin Barcia                  (1-1)
2. Ken Roczen                   (3-2)
3. Marvin Musquin             (4-3)
4. Eli Tomac                      (2-9)

450MX Rider Point Standings
1. Eli Tomac                      527
2. Marvin Musquin             511
3. Ken Roczen                   445

NINJA H2 SETS WORLD SPEED RECORD AT BONNEVILLE SPEED WEEK

Team 38, an independent racing team made up of Kawasaki engineers and test riders, were in America to compete in this year’s Bonneville Speed Week motorsports event held at the Bonneville Salt Flats from August 11th through 17th. Entering the P-PB 1000 class, for production models with supercharged engines up to 1000 cm3, the team succeeded in setting a world speed record of 209.442 mph (337.064 km/h) on the Kawasaki flagship Ninja H2.

Bonneville Speed Week, where motorcars and motorcycles gather to challenge world land speed records, is held each year in August at the Bonneville Salt Flats, the largest of many salt flats located west of Utah’s Great Salt Lake. The well-recognised land speed event has a history stretching back more than 100 years. Riding on the salt is challenging; the surface is very slippery, so simply preparing a bike to go as fast as possible will not result in a record-setting speed. Finding a way to suppress rear wheel spin, and the rider’s skill at keeping the bike on track are both necessary components for success. And since allowable modifications are severely limited in P-PB 1000 class contested this year, the base performance of the bike is also extremely important.

On August 14, the Ninja H2 prepared by Team 38 clocked a speed of 211.621 mph (340.571 km/h). This was followed on August 15 by a return run of 207.263 mph (333.557 km/h). The average speed of the two runs 209.442 mph (337.064 km/h) was recognised as a world speed record in its class, illustrating the lofty performance of the Ninja H2.

Let the Good Times Roll.

 

LEON HASLAM JOINS KRT

Experienced British competitor Leon Haslam will join Jonathan Rea in KRT to complete the rider line up of Kawasaki’s official squad in the 2019 WorldSBK Championship.
Leon is an experienced WorldSBK campaigner, with five race wins and 39 podiums to his credit.
Leon will begin his working relationship with KRT during this year’s winter test programme. #NinjaSpirit #LetTheGoodTimesRoll

GREEN SWEEP

Kawasaki sweeps the top 4 positions at Donington Park over the weekend in the World SSP300 class. Ana Carrasco took a clear lead and then a win by over 4.602 seconds from her own team-mate, Dorren Loureiro, from South Africa. Borja Sanchez was the third Kawasaki Ninja 400 rider with Enzo De La Vega fourth.

THREE FOR ET3

Three for ET3!

Eli Tomac claims 3 from 3 consecutive overall wins on his Kawasaki KX450F at Thunder Valley in the AMA Pro Motocross Championship.