News

The all-green marque has now won three Riders’ titles since World Superbike began in 1988, with Jonathan Rea and 2015 joining Scott Russell (1993) and Tom Sykes (2013). However, in the previous two riders title-winning years, Kawasaki finished second in the Manufactures’ standings to Ducati and Aprilia, respectively.

In terms of winning a Manufactures’ title, Kawasaki is the sixth company to achieve the feat and the fourth from Japan. It equals Suzuki and Yamaha on a single title, while Honda and Aprilia are tied on four and Ducati leads with a mammoth 17.

So, what path did Kawasaki take to its historic first Manufactures’ title?

- Kawasaki’s WorldSBK Journey -

Donington Park 1988 – Finnish rider Esko Kuparinen scores Kawasaki’s first World Championship points finish; combined results from two races see him finish 16th

Hungaroring 1988 – Frenchman Adrien Morillas (now a team owner in Superstock 1000) picks up Kawasaki’s first World Superbike victory in Race 2 (his only win)

Manfeild 1989 – New Zealand’s Aaron Slight laps his home circuit quickest in Race 1 to achieve Kawasaki’s first race fastest lap

Brainerd 1990 – Californian Doug Chandler collects the debut World Superbike pole position for Kawasaki and the only one of his own career

Estoril 1993 – Team Kawasaki Muzzy’s Scott Russell (of East Point, Georgia) claims an historic first world title for Kawasaki after a stiff challenge from Carl Fogarty; the battle would have gone down to the wire, but the season finale in Mexico City was eventually called off on the grounds of safety

Laguna Seca 1995 – In Race 1, Australian hotshot Anthony Gobert holds off Troy Corser’s Ducati to pick up Kawasaki’s 25th World Superbike race win

Albacete 1998 – Neil Hodgson (a future World Champion with Ducati) leads a race for the first time, equipped with Kawasaki machinery in Race 1

Laguna Seca 1998 – Piergiorgio Bontempi starts his 163rd World Superbike race on a Kawasaki in Race 1; he would never race in the series again after being involved in a multiple collision at Turn 1, but remains the rider to have started more races on a Kawasaki motorcycle (Tom Sykes is second and 13 starts behind)

Sugo 2001 – Three-time race winner Akira Yanagawa starts his 100th World Superbike race, riding a Kawasaki in Race 1

Assen 2006 – Britain’s Chris Walker picks up a dramatic first and only World Superbike win in Race 1, overcoming treacherous weather conditions

Phillip Island 2010 – At the start of the new season, Tom Sykes competes with a Kawasaki for the first time; he has since become the most successful Kawasaki rider in terms of race wins (26), podium finishes (59), pole positions (29), front row starts (45), race fastest laps (27) and points scored (1,792.5)

Donington Park 2012 – Pole position number 25 for Kawasaki, courtesy of Tom Sykes who would miss out on that year’s title to Max Biaggi by just half a point

Imola 2013 – Completing a magnificent double, Sykes sets the fastest lap in Race 2; this is Kawasaki’s 50th fastest lap in the premier class

Magny-Cours 2013 – Sykes wins Race 1 and this is Kawasaki’s 50th race victory in World Superbike; to this day only Ducati, Honda and Yamaha have achieved more wins

Jerez 2013 – Sykes finishes third in Race 1, wrapping up his first world title: the first for the Barcelona-based Provec team and the second for Kawasaki in World Superbike

Phillip Island 2015 – Jonathan Rea begins his Kawasaki career with pole position and Race 1 victory in Australia, beating Leon Haslam’s Aprilia by just 0.039 seconds

Misano 2015 – Superpole specialist Sykes bags Kawasaki’s 50th pole position; Kawasaki has since taken another two and its 52 is second only to Ducati’s 168

Jerez 2015 – Race 1 – Tom Sykes wins Race 1 to claim Kawasaki’s 75th victory. Nine seconds later, Jonathan Rea finishes fourth and makes history by becoming the third Kawasaki Riders’ World Champion and the first WorldSBK title winner from Northern Ireland; at the same time, Rea achieves Kawasaki’s 75th fastest lap in a World Superbike race

Jerez 2015 – Race 2 – Kawasaki wraps up its first Manufactures’ crown in World Superbike as Rea and Sykes finish fourth and fifth; amazingly, in the 22nd race of the year, this is the first time all season that no Kawasaki has finished on the podium