A dramatic opening race for the 2022 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship at Donington Park sees the title race take a whole different turn after the rises and falls of the undulating layout. As Championship leader Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) crashed from second, it was Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) who took his first full-race win of the season. However, there was a monumental statistic for Kawasaki, as they hit the 500 podiums milestone with Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and immediately exceeded it, with a 501^st courtesy of teammate Alex Lowes. In what was the first double Kawasaki podium since Magny-Cours’ Superpole Race in 2021, let’s look back at the illustrious history of Kawasaki in WorldSBK and in terms of numbers too.

THE EARLY YEARS: humble beginnings on the road to big success

It all started in 1988 and whilst they missed the first podium of their history at Donington Park and the Championship’s first ever round, they made up for it at the next one with Adrien Morillas at the Hungaroring in Hungary. Then, iconic names got their name in the history books, such as Rob Phillis and Aaron Slight, adding to the list of Kawasaki runners with podiums. However, it would be 1990 and a wildcard who delivered the ultimate goal and the first ever win: Doug Chandler. Competing at Brainerd, Chandler – one of the most versatile riders of his time – took Race 2 honours before wildcarding again at Sugo: every time, on the rostrum with the legendary Muzzy Kawasaki.

However, whilst podiums were aplenty throughout the very early 90s and with Phillis even taking wins, it was Scott Russell in 1993 who would bring the Muzzy Kawasaki name and the iconic Japanese brand to the fore. Podiums in 1991 and 1992, it was Russell’s first full year which would see him take five wins and the Championship crown – little did we know it’d be 20 years until the next title-clinching moment. Nine further wins came for Russell in 1994 on his way to second overall, whilst new names for Kawasaki came good, such as Anthony Gobert, Simon Crafar and Akira Yanagawa, Gobert and Yanagawa being Kawasaki icons through the mid-to-late 90s. Yanagawa gave Kawasaki their 150^th podium in 2000 at Hockenheim but by the time he and teammate Gregorio Lavilla left Kawasaki’s WorldSBK team at the close of 2001, it’d be four years for the next podium.

DRY SPELL ENDS IN THE WET: a period of fighting back

As the baron spell ended, it was Chris Walker who came through to take podiums and the iconic win at a wet Assen in Race 1, 2006, when ‘Stalker’ came from last on the first lap. Whilst others came, such as Fonsi Nieto, Regis Laconi and Makoto Tamada, Tom Sykes arrived in 2010, took a first win in 2011 and almost took the title in 2012, missing out by just half a point to Max Biaggi. However, 2013 would be Kawasaki’s return to the top. In the 200^th podium for Kawasaki, Sykes finished third in Race 1 at Jerez, taking the title in what was a memorable day for the British rider and the manufacturer. Sykes would become a Kawasaki legend, taking all of his 34 wins with the brand, along with some 107 podiums, cementing him in the top five of both the win and the podium rankings in the Championship’s history. Kawasaki missed out in 2014 but then it was the era we’re still living in.

THE REA ERA: irrepressible, unstoppable, unimaginable

Jonathan Rea came into Kawasaki, partnered up with crew chief Pere Riba and simply dominated. He won on his debut at Phillip Island and went on to dominate the 2015 season, giving Kawasaki the 250^th podium place of their history with a win at Misano, poetically the same track where Rea started his winning career at in 2009, albeit with Honda. Rea continued his iconic success with Kawasaki, one of the most recognisable partnerships in the Championship’s history, with the title coming his way in 2016 and 2017, in which at Donington Park in Race 2 in the latter year, he took a first win in green at home, which was also Kawasaki’s 100^th win.

In 2018, Rea surpassed Carl Fogarty’s record win tally at Brno in Race 1, before he went on to take the title in style at Magny-Cours, his fourth successive. In 2019, despite the domination from Ducati and Alvaro Bautista, digging deep and tenacity from Rea and KRT saw them overturn a 63-point deficit to take the crown, a history-making fifth straight title. En route, an all-Kawasaki podium in Race 2 at Misano saw the 400^th podium achieved. In 2020, Rea continued writing history and took a sixth title on the bounce at Estoril, an unprecedented six years of Kawasaki painting WorldSBK green against the fierce opposition. Whilst it didn’t go their way in 2021 for the title, they continued winning, whilst at the start of this 2022 season, Rea secured his 100^th Kawasaki win during Assen’s Superpole Race. It’s therefore only right that Rea, chasing a seventh title, gave the brand a 500^th podium whilst Alex Lowes begins the next era of success with podium #501.

IN NUMBERS: the biggest stats to know

501 – Thanks to Rea and Lowes in Race 1 at Donington Park, Kawasaki achieve 500 podiums and are already on 501.

184 – Of the 501 podium places, more than a third of them have been achieved by Jonathan Rea at 184.

111 – Whilst there’s been 501 podium places, 111 races have seen two Kawasakis on the podium in the same race.

107/34 – Second on the list is Tom Sykes with 107 podiums, who also has 34 wins and is also second on that list too.

102 – Of Jonathan Rea’s 184 podiums in green, some 102 have come as victories in an unprecedented hit-rate.

30/14 – 30 different riders have taken podiums with Kawasaki, of which 14 of those riders have taken victories.

10 – Alex Lowes, who coincidentally took his tenth podium with Kawasaki, is the tenth rider to achieve at least ten podiums with Kawasaki.

7 – The success for Kawasaki sees them sit on seven Riders’ Championships.

3 – Only three occasions with three Kawasakis on the podium in WorldSBK: Sugo 1993 Race 2 welcomed them taking all of the top four places, whilst in 2019, it happened twice: Misano Race 2 and Donington Park’s Superpole Race – Jonathan Rea won both of the 2019 races.

2 – Kawasaki become the second manufacturer to achieve 500 podiums, with Ducati having achieved it in the United Kingdom too, with James Toseland finishing second at Silverstone in 2003.

Watch the 2022 season continue to unfold with the WorldSBK VideoPass!