The Ducati V4R associated with the former MotoGP rider Alvaro Bautista atomizes a Superbike field placed for five seasons under the yoke of the green giant Kawasaki. The Ninja has suffered eleven consecutive defeats in as many races contested and given the form displayed by the Italian-Spanish couple, the Japanese can expect other spankings. So, at Akashi, we decided not to persist. The 2019 financial year is already lost. We are therefore preparing for 2020, with a new missile…
At this stage of the year, we are heading towards Borgo Panigale. And there is something to be said for it. Andrea Dovizioso leads the MotoGP championship whileAlvaro Bautista flies over the WSBK general ranking. It should however be noted that, if we mainly talk about the Panigale V4R, accusing it of betraying the spirit of the category whose vocation is to praise the machines from the series and made available to the most large number in the concessions, it is the only one Baptist who manages to extract the quintessence...
A detail which is not one and which fortunately did not escape the Kawasaki manager on the circuits Ichiro Yoda : " Ducati brought this MotoGP machine that appeals to a MotoGP rider. Riding such a motorcycle is not so easy. Bautista controls his machine very well, the other riders less so. The 1200 twin was more forgiving of mistakes. Bautista is a good driver, I like him. He did the MotoGP World Championship with an old bike putting it in the top 6. Beating him on this MotoGP machine is not easy. If we bring a bike with a similar concept we can beat Bautista and Ducati ».
Maître Yoda therefore announces a new opus: “ this is the solution. We need to become more competitive and think about a MotoGP type bike. An extreme motorcycle that we will produce in limited numbers in series. For Kawasaki, it is easy to build 500 motorcycles of this type. But I have doubts about this direction. Is this path correct or not? For 2015, costs were reduced, so performance was lower. From 2014 to 2015, the four-cylinder lost 20 horsepower and its performance was then identical to that of the Twin Ducati ».
He ends on speedweek : " We have a lot of experience in MotoGP with these powerful four-cylinder engines, so it's not complicated for us. Kawasaki believes that if Ducati continues with this bike next season, we need a machine like this. We are not in this championship just to be there ».
A future Kawasaki will therefore arrive to challenge the Panigale V4R. It will be in 2020. To believe thatAlvaro Bautista is already World Champion and this 2019 season no longer has any interest. The fact remains that this direction taken should also make other manufacturers think hard about the continuation of their involvement in the category. Unless you decide to play stooge.
