posted January 26, 2005 09:42 AM
Edited By: Rubber Pants on 27 Jan 2005 08:08
Kawasaki Racing Decisions Don't know about you people but I am just a little mystified by decisions that Kawasaki and their racing divison make at times.
Why do they quit drag racing when they did very well at it?? Also No AMA Superbike except a privateer situation.(Josh Hayes) But they have no problem waisting bizzilions of $$ on a seemingly (again) non competitive Moto GP effort that is watched emmbarsinly by millions of people on TV and at the world race tracks?
I don't know ......... seems like they can't get their machines outta the bottom times in testing this year again. Hopefully they can prove us all wrong, but man ........ I miss the likes of Muzzy and the boys racing in Superbike and Drags etc. I wonder what Rob Muzzy would have done with a ZX10R Superbike effort??
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"Ya Gotta Have Big Ones!"
posted January 26, 2005 12:00 PM
You are mystified,we all are from this crazy marketing decision. Kaw doesnt even feel a need to offer an explanation about it.Suzuki wins a title in any class of racing and it is plastered in all their ads,Kaw is the winner in roadracing and drag racing and there is hardly,if any mention of this.The moderators of this board know some Kaw reps,ask them why!In the nice Silver Book that was given away with the 2000 ZX-12 they talk about pride,power,tradition blah blah blah with the old guy standing next to the bike then they do this...to be honest...I AM PISSED!
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Orient Express Top Street Bike Winner 8-4-07
posted January 26, 2005 01:31 PM
It would seem that the current management team does not feel that racing success is important to there marketing plan. I can tell you that the customer is important to the Japanese management. Unfortunately they never here directly from you guy's.
posted January 26, 2005 04:07 PM
the moto gp thing is a waste. not helping muzzy, very lame considering his success. The one thing that pissed me off greatly was a few years back when eric bostrom was on the zx7r. he was very close in the title and kawasaki announces there stopping development with the zx7r. they could of built a kick ass 800cc screamer and grabbed a title. my guess they switched the development crew over to make the 2000cc pig cruiser. now thats a waste! sorry this vent has been building up, but I do love my zx-10.
posted January 26, 2005 05:48 PM
I wouldnt say moto gp is a complete waste of time, even though they may not be where we'd like to see them its the best place to be for exposure, its also where alot of things that our bikes have originated from, upside down forks, radial brakes and so on.
I do think there management team needs a good kick up the bum as they clearly have no desire to take the next step, Honda has pretty much had all fronts covered for years, now yamaha is also putting out, I would love to see Kawasaki win something in the road racing scene but it may not happen with this current management group.
Something happened similar here in Oz with car racing a few years ago, Ford Australia basically couldnt be stuffed with the racing scene and there opposition Holden(part of GM) were kicking arse on the track and were selling cars like hotcakes, now Ford with a new management team decided to put up, there now winning on sundays and selling on mondays, its an old cliche but its true.
posted January 26, 2005 05:57 PM
i can only guess that they're putting so much effort into motoGP cause since they've done poorly thus far and feel they need to prove themselves by getting some good results in motoGP no matter what. tho that's just speculation, i do know that Kawasaki is not completely ignoring roadracing otherwise. they're quite excited to see what the new 6 will do.
posted January 26, 2005 06:42 PM
The 6 has already proven itself in the very capable hands of one T & RL Hayden and yet they shun them with no SBK/zx10 WTF!!!
posted January 26, 2005 10:59 PM
Not only that, but those of us as privateers have a hard time getting help from the factory as well. The team is very gracious with information to make the bike work better, but in terms of real support, there isn't much. Contigency is where its at for us privateers and when suzuki pays to 10th 4 or 5 times a year, while Kawi pays to 3rd three times a year, it makes riding these bikes a hard decision. If any of the factory folks are listening, PLEASE HELP THE PRIVATEERS!! We are the folks actually talking to the people that are buying the bikes.
posted January 27, 2005 07:55 AM
Maybe somebody at Kawasaki finally woke up and realized that drag racing is as close as you can get to homosexuality without another penis being involved. Good for Kawi for getting out. Without that drain on resources they can put more effort into roadracing.
quote:Maybe somebody at Kawasaki finally woke up and realized that drag racing is as close as you can get to homosexuality without another penis being involved. Good for Kawi for getting out. Without that drain on resources they can put more effort into roadracing.
\
Ouch! I'm not into drag racing but damn were you
anal raped by a drag racer when you were young?
posted January 27, 2005 11:54 AM
I would like to see Kawasaki succeed in MotoGP. The bikes are continueing to evolve and improve. The problem is that the competition is also continueing to improve. As a result the ZX-RR is still the same distance behind. And Kawasaki does not have a Valentino Rossi on the bike to make that quantum leap they need to take them to the next level. Besides, I have never had much faith in the people that KMC now has running the MotoGP program. Would the money they are spending in MotoGP be better spent elsewhere? Like drag racing, Superbike racing and supporting the grass roots riders? I think it would produce more positive results, in the long run.
posted January 27, 2005 01:26 PM
top shelf - you are so right. Even when I was racing, it was the same story. It is definetly the privateers doing a lot of the leg work. But they also are hard pressed to get any support. In my early days as a die-hard Kawasaki racer, Gary Mathers was in charge. I couldn't get the time of day from him.... Even when I came to their rescue at Sears Point and had a counter shaft sprocket made for them, for some obscure Superbike rider name Freddie Spencer, they still barely helped. And I think Freddie won the dam Superbike race! I got a Mark II ignition out of the deal. But years later at Taladega when I needed base gasket for my 750, I got blown off..... Wow, the bitterness returns a little.....
Anyway, I wish the support was better for the actual racers who buy the motorcycle with their own money, and are simply looking for some parts support or other "minor" assistance. You guys deserve it, just like guys like me and Rich Oliver deserved it back in the day. We love Kawasaki. Show the love back! So I echo your thoughts - Kawasaki, please help the privateers!
posted January 27, 2005 04:54 PM
Hey Bovinewhatever...
How much of a drain on resources do you think drag racing had on Kawasaki's budget for racing?
This past season my son was a factory Team Green drag racer with support from Muzzy's and I can tell you first hand that a small amount of their total racing budget was spent on drag racing.
Even with Rickey Gadson's Shoot-Out bike, Chip Ellis' ZX10R and 600RR, Ryan Schnitz's ZX10R and Pro-Stock bike and my sons 600RR the total money spent was not a drop in a bucket compared to their motocross and road racing efforts.
When John Hoover retired from Kawasaki, the drag racing money dried up, much to the dismay of a lot of drag racers.
As far the smart ass remark about homosexuality, your IQ of a donut is starting to show.
Have a nice day....
Dan
posted January 27, 2005 06:23 PM
No matter how you look at it, it comes down to marketing dollars spent to attract buyers. I have no idea what the other manufacturers do for drag racing, but Kawi has spent some money in drag racing and from what I have seen, sold a bunch of bikes because of it. Now they seem to have made a new commitment to making great bikes for roadracing (ZX6RR, 10R) yet the support is very minimal at the privateer level. Kawi offers great contingency at the AMA level, but there are a very limited number of privateers that can run at the national level all season long. I tried it in 03 and nearly bankrupted myself. I learned an extraordinary amount about racing and the business of it watching guys like Robert Jensen and Mike Smith travel the country running other events like FOrmula USA and CCS and making LOTS of money on Suzukis. Last year I took a leap of faith and bought the Kawi because I thought it had a chance to be a great bike and I saw it as an opportunity to get in with Kawi while they are figuring out the privateer thing. Unfortunately for 05, there are far fewer opportunities in California to earn contigency because there is no CCS Pacific region. I am very loyal to the Kawi because I have gotten a lot of information from the guys at the team, but that doesn't pay the bills. I can only hope for 06 Kawi realizes that the biggest bike market is in California and allocates more contingency to the club racing scene. If not, I will be forced, like the 4 or 5 guys that I know who did it this year, to switch from a good Kawi that is capable of winning to a suzuki so I can make enough money to keep racing.
posted January 28, 2005 08:09 AM
I think that's what I am saying without trying to be too harsh, is that the contingency program pales in comparison to Suzukis program. Suzuki offers more paying weekends, and pays further down the grid. It's simple economics. Yamaha did the same thing this year by only paying to win at certain clubs. The end result was the two guys who were competitive enough to worry about it here in Northern California are switching to Suzuki because they can make money even if they don't win. I think what the marketing guys are missing is that even if you pay a whole bunch to win, you need more bikes sold. Not just to the guy that is going to win. I'd rather see the money spread out over more weekends too. This year, Kawi is paying down to third on three weekends in Northern California. (Keep in mind that the northern California club is the largest by region in the country with over 1200 entries per weekend) Yeah they are paying pretty well, but the opportunities to earn it are very few. There is a reason why most privateers run suzukis and the reason is they have more opportunities nationwide to make enough money to cover their investment into the company by buying the bike. Nobody is talking about getting rich off of contingency. We all just want to have the opportunity to get some of the money we put in back.
posted January 28, 2005 10:21 AM
Well said. It's ironic how the circle continues and the reasons for switching brands ends up being money related. I bought a Suzuki back in '86 to run the GSXR series because there was so much money to be had all across the US. The idea being that you could support yourself between nationals by racing in local events. But what I also remember is how extremely competitive it was. You had to fight for your life out there! At Sears Point - I came away with more tire marks on body work, and more racers (including myself from time to time) in the weeds...
Unforturnetly, it ended up costing as much, if not more to run the Cup Series than a National. The tires we ran at the time seem to go dead after 10 hard laps and you ended up using as many tires per weekend as a National. Then of course you added the traveling to various out-of-the-way tracks, maintanence, entries, crashes, etc.
I remember a story one of the magazines did on Doug Polen when he was king of the GSXR Series. He pulled in something like $100k hitting tons of races every week and doing all the classes. But when he added up his expenses, he only netted something like $20k. It was a real eye opener. I mean, if the guy who basically was winning every time he placed a wheel on the track couldn't eak out a living, then none of us mortals cound either. So off went the GSXR and it was back to Superbike...
quote:
Hey Bovinewhatever...
How much of a drain on resources do you think drag racing had on Kawasaki's budget for racing?
This past season my son was a factory Team Green drag racer with support from Muzzy's and I can tell you first hand that a small amount of their total racing budget was spent on drag racing.
Even with Rickey Gadson's Shoot-Out bike, Chip Ellis' ZX10R and 600RR, Ryan Schnitz's ZX10R and Pro-Stock bike and my sons 600RR the total money spent was not a drop in a bucket compared to their motocross and road racing efforts.
When John Hoover retired from Kawasaki, the drag racing money dried up, much to the dismay of a lot of drag racers.
As far the smart ass remark about homosexuality, your IQ of a donut is starting to show.
Have a nice day....
Dan
Ever wonder why it's the only sport ever dominated by a woman? Hmmmm? It's gay. Deal with it.
posted January 28, 2005 04:02 PM
I can deal with it 'cause drag racing is a sport that the average person can compete in by riding their bike to a track, race it and ride it home......it's called participating instead of spectating.
I enjoy road racing, land speed racing and dirt biking but even if I didn't, they would not be "gay" to me or alot of other people..including females.
Just sit back, take a deep breath and try to enjoy life and quit being so critical of things and people.
Dan
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posted January 26, 2005 09:42 AM
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posted January 26, 2005 10:12 AM
posted January 27, 2005 06:29 PM
