The Ninja ZX-RR is a race bike from Kawasaki, which raced in the MotoGP world championship until 2009.[1][2] The bike made its debut towards the end of the 2002 MotoGP season with riders Andrew Pitt (Australia) and Akira Yanagawa (Japan).[3][4]

Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR

Manufacturer	Kawasaki
Production	2002–2009
Predecessor	Kawasaki KR500
Class	MotoGP
Engine	798cc four-stroke inline-four DOHC (2007–2008)

Racing history

In 2004, Shinya Nakano joined the Kawasaki team and got the ZX-RR's first podium with a third place at the Japanese Grand Prix.[5][6] The bike earned second place over the next three years: in 2005 with Olivier Jacque at the Chinese Grand Prix;[7] in 2006 with Nakano at the Dutch TT;[8] and in 2007 with Randy de Puniet at the Japanese Grand Prix.[9] The ZX-RR struggled in 2008, with the best results^{[citation needed]} being two fifth-place finishes from John Hopkins in Portugal and Anthony West in Brno.[10][11] Hopkins and West blamed both a lack of feeling in the front end and rear traction on corner exit, a complaint Marco Melandri also had in 2009.[12][13] During the 2008 season, Kawasaki announced its retirement from the MotoGP world championship.[14] Forward Racing took over the ZX-RR as the Hayate racing team and recruited Marco Melandri to ride during the 2009 season; Melandri won fourth place.[15][1][13][16] At the end of the season, Hayate withdrew from MotoGP.[17] The bike, with some changes, has been ridden a few times since its last official appearance in 2009 under the name Avintia GP14.[18]

Riders

Year	Rider	Rider	Rider	Rider	Rider	Refs
2002	Andrew Pitt	Akira Yanagawa				[3][4][19]
2003	Alex Hofmann	Garry McCoy	USA Andrew Pitt	Japan Akira Yanagawa		[20][21]
2004	Alex Hofmann	Japan Shinya Nakano				[19]
2005	Alex Hofmann	Olivier Jacque	Shinya Nakano			[19][22][23]
2006	Randy de Puniet	Shinya Nakano				[19][14]
2007	Randy de Puniet	Olivier Jacque	Fonsi Nieto	Anthony West	Akira Yanagawa	[14][24][25][26]
2008	/ Jamie Hacking	John Hopkins	Anthony West			[27][28]
2009	Marco Melandri					[1]

As the Avintia GP14

Year	Rider	Rider	Refs
2013	Héctor Barberá		[18]
2014	Héctor Barberá	Mike Di Meglio	[29][30]

Specifications

References

На других языках

[it] Kawasaki ZX-RR