With four-time World Superbike Championship winner Jonathan Rea leading the charge, Kawasaki Racing Team (KRT) is geared up for the 2019 race season. With the first round of WSBK being held in Australia next month, both Rea and team mate Leon Haslam will be conducting on final test in Jerez, Spain on 23 and 24 January, followed by two more days of testing in Portimao on the 27 and 28.
After two successful test sessions last year, KRT will be campaigning an updated version of the Kawasaki ZX-10RR, said to be higher revving that the previous model. This was achieved partly through the use of finger follower valve design.
Rea, who has won the championship four times in a row for Kawasaki is excited about the upcoming season. “The tests at the end of last year were all about trying out different items and now we can put them all together and begin performance testing. I am excited because we were fast in Jerez in November, so I hope we can have some good weather this time,” said Rea.
Haslam, son of former 500 cc Grand Prix racer Ronald ‘Rocket Ron’ Haslam, won the British Superbike Championship in 2018 riding a Kawasaki ZX-10R. “It has been a short winter for me because I got some surgical screws taken out of my ankle. I have done a two-week training camp out in Barcelona, riding Supermoto, flat track and doing numerous other things. Getting used to the bike and how to use it in terms of riding style and electronics, is the key,” Haslam said.
The 2019 WSBK calendar covers 13 rounds with the first round kicking off at Philip Island on 22 February with the season ending in Qatar on the weekend of 24 October. In Malaysia, the 2019 Kawasaki ZX-10RR retails at a price of RM159,900.
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