World Superbike Championship

Even giving away a potential 250cc to some of the opposition in the first few years of Superbike’s development, Kawasaki was an early winner in the riders’ title chase, thanks to Scott Russell in 1993. The subsequent success of World Superbike racing was not an automatic assumption in the early years, given the existence of the much more established prototype class in Grand Prix racing, but World Superbike’s mix of affordable global racing on road-based machinery was a seductive amalgam for riders, teams and spectators alike. Rules and regulations have changed to keep pace with changes in the sportsbike marketplace, but Kawasaki has kept a near constant presence in SBK as it has changed over the seasons. The regulations which limited multi-cylinder machines to a mere 750cc were changed for the 2003 season, but it was in 2004 that this had a first real influence on the championship, and by 2005 1000cc four-cylinder machines made up the vast majority of the grid. The recent period of stability in the regulations has seen a return to a higher level of strength in depth, and a subsequent greater level of interest from top teams and manufacturers alike.