Kawasaki unveils colours for 2018

Kawasaki has revealed its colour scheme in which riders Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes will compete throughout the 2018 World Superbike season.

In a presentation at KRT’s workshop, located north of Barcelona, team management and both riders were present to outline the aims for the year ahead.

Three-time world champion Jonathan Rea has appeared to be in strong shape throughout winter testing in Spain and Portugal, and will begin the year as the favourite to equal Carl Fogarty’s record of four World Superbike titles.

“The bike is constantly evolving from the first time I rode the bike in 2014,” said Rea. “This winter has been like any other; together with my engineers, my amazing crew and our technical partners, we’ve taken a step forward with the bike, even under the new technical regulations.

“I feel good. I’ve probably had the best winter away from the bike for a long time. I’m just really excited to get stuck in. I go to Australia tomorrow via the Philippines and I’m just excited about 2018 with KRT.”

For Sykes, 2018 represents another chance to compete for the rider’s championship. He has, more or less, recovered from the nasty injury that put him out of the double header in Portugal last year, and feels the changes due to new regulations “have enhanced our lap times.”

“I’ve been with Kawasaki for a long time and we have a great partnership. It’s a big family. It’s a pleasure working together. I’ve been world champion and I’ve been fighting for that world championship six times in the last six years – always inside the top three, which is not too bad.

“Obviously with my team-mate I have some work to do. In the past few years I’ve Just with struggling with getting the best out of myself and the bike. The injury from last year is pretty much behind me. After some very successful testing, I feel very much prepared for the new season.

“Kawasaki and all the technical team have done a very good job anticipating this. They’ve switched around the nature of the beast. They’ve lowered the RPM and compensated for that in other areas. Unfortunately for the competition it seems to enhanced our lap times. I feel the winter tests have been great and I’ve found a bit of my mojo.”