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Are You the 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14 / ZZR1400?

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The internet has been abuzz lately with leaked/early/spy photos, some real, and some not so much. Looking a bit like the genuine article, we get another alleged glimpse at a soon to be released motorcycle before its public unveiling. While Kawasaki has been busy teasing the interwebs with videos that feature a nice exhaust note, a flash of green light, and the date: 10/10/2011,  it looks like Asian motorcycle magazine Young Machine has released its issue featuring the 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14 (that’s the 2012 Kawasaki ZZR1400 for our friends in other markets) a tad early.

In what looks to be the first photos of the new Kawasaki ZX-14, we also get a look at some of the basic features that the new hypersport will boast in 2012, namely a 1429cc motor, anti-lock brakes, Kawasaki’s traction control system, and rider-selectable engine maps. As for looks…ZX-10R owners will be pleased. Photos after the jump, and if you read what appears to be Japanese, help us out with a translation in the comments. Thanks for the tip John!

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Racing

WSBK: Wet Conditions & Heavy Attrition Force a Red Flagged, Shortened Race 2 at Nurburgring

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Carlos Checa (1:54.144) won pole during Saturday’s Superpole sessions after leading every session but one through the 2011 Nurburgring round of the World Superbike championship. He would have been joined on the front row by Eugene Laverty, Max Biaggi, and Marco Melandri, but Biaggi’s injuries from a stone hitting his foot during practice kept the Italian from participating in either Race 1 earlier in the day or Race 2. With Biaggi missing the chance for the fifty points possible for a double race win, Checa’s lead over him in the championship could easily grow over the three remaining race weekends.

Throughout the weekend, only Checa and Biaggi led the practice and qualifying sessions. The Italian held provisional pole after the first qualifying practice on Friday, but no one else could catch Checa in Germany. Biaggi’s did qualify with his injured foot, but the nerve and tendon damage, along with a broken bone and the resultant swelling and cast kept him out of the action on Sunday. The order had a shake-up in the final warm-up, with Haslam leading Guintoli, Corser, Sykes, and Berger as the fastest five while Checa was only thirteenth fastest.

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Racing

Kawasaki’s Factory WSBK Team Down to Two Possibilities

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After taking bids from teams to obtain factory backing for the 2012 World Superbike season, Kawasaki has narrowed the choices down to two teams, and will likely announce its decision next week. This season the embattled Paul Bird Motorsports team has had factory backing for riders Chris Vermeulen, Joan Lascorz, and Tom Sykes, though the results have not been spectacular, and Vermeulen has spent much of the season recovering from injuries.

With Kawasaki second to last in the Championship, the factory entertained bids from satellite Team Pedericini, the current Alstare Suzuki squad, the Supersonic Ducati team, British Superbike team MSS Colchester, and Kawasaki factory World Supersport’s Provec Motocard team. Now, the process has been narrowed down to two of those bids.

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Rumors

Rumor: New Kawasaki ZX-14 Facelift Coming This Month? Supercharged Hypersport Later?

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Rumors are swelling around the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 (the Kawasaki ZZR1400 for friends on the other side of the pond). First up is that a new updated Kawasaki ZX-14 is set to debut by the end of the month. Expected to be only a cosmetic makeover, the 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14 will mechanically be the same as the current model.

Looking farther down the pipe though, it would seem from reports and patents that Kawasaki has been eyeing putting a supercharger on the hypersport machine, presumably to better position the ZX-14 against the increasingly more powerful 1,000 superbikes, like the company’s on 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R.

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Recall

Recall: 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R

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Kawasaki is recalling 2,480 units of its 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R motorcycles for a faulty wiring harness. Affecting both the base and ABS versions of the motorcycle, it is possible that the wiring harness can become pinched between the rear subframe and either the rear fender or the bolt holding the seat cover. If the wiring harness does become pinched, it could damage the harness and cause an electrical short in the system, which could stop the engine suddenly.

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Racing

WSBK: Kawasaki Taking Bids for New Factory-Backed Team

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Multiple teams have placed bids to become the 2012 factory Kawasaki racing team in World Superbike, including current factory team Paul Bird Motorsports. The five other teams include satellite Team Pedericini, the current Alstare Suzuki squad (who are less than thrilled with Suzuki’s lack of support), and the Supersonic Ducati team completing the current WSBK teams vying for factory backing. Also interested are British Superbike team MSS Colchester and factory World Supersport’s Motocard.com team.

For PBM, the process of retaining factory support is more difficult after team trucks and personnel were detained with drugs and weaponry when returning to Britian after the Assen round. Though the team said afterwards, “The team are confident that no team member has any connection whatsoever with the items discovered. No one has been detained after the time of the search and all team members are able to undertake their normal duties,” such an event certainly raised eyebrows, and likely soured with an embarrassed Kawasaki.

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News

Kawasaki Taking Costco Sales Program Nationwide

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With all this talk about alternative vs. established sales schemes in the motorcycle industry, it seems fitting that we hear now that Kawasaki has decided to take its Costco sales referral program nationwide. We reported a while back that Kawasaki was teaming up with Costco, in a program that saw the wholesale supply chain acting as a sales lead for local dealers. At the time, the program was only in the trial phase, but it seems now Team Green liked the results, and has decided to take the program across the US.

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Racing

WSBK: Vermeulen Preemptively Out for Miller Round

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Despite his perennially upbeat demeanor on Twitter, Chris Vermeulen’s recovery continues to progress slowly. The factory Kawasaki rider, who has yet to complete a race in the 2011 World Superbike season, will remain in Europe while teammates Joan Lascorz and Tom Sykes travel to this weekend’s race at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah.Vermeulen has been attending recent races in Europe and participating in practice and qualifying sessions, but an off at Monza tore a hole in his elbow and added to the Australian’s injuries.

Vermeulen will test for the team at Motorland Aragon early next month, with a plan to return to racing at Misano for the June 12th weekend. “It is disappointing to not race in America but my injuries are still healing. The good thing is they are improving,” said Vermeulen.

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Racing

Statement from Paul Bird Motorsports about the Drugs Found in the Kawasaki WBSK Team Trucks

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With news coming out that the Kawasaki World Superbike team that is run by Paul Bird Motorsports had a large amount of cocaine, amphetamines, and marijuana seized from two of the team’s trucks while entering the United Kingdom, Paul Bird Motorsports has released a statement addressing the issue on how such a large quantity of drugs found its way onto the team’s vehicles.

While the team is not sure how the drugs came on-board the team trucks, Paul Bird Motorsports was quick to point out that it was confident that none of its team members were involved, and that no one from the WSBK squad has been detained since the initial seizure. You can read the full press statement after the jump.

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Racing

Kawasaki WSBK Trucks Found Trafficking Drugs?

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According to the UK’s Telegraph, the Kawasaki World Superbike trucks of Paul Bird Motorsport were stopped by the UK Border Agency (UKBA), and found drugs and a gun with 35 rounds. Now, we know what you’re thinking, someone forgot to hide their stash, and the media is making a mountain out of a molehill, right?

However crossing by ferry into England, presumably for the Donington Park round, the UKBA allegedly stopped and searched a pair of Kawasaki trucks, finding 157 lbs (71kg) of amphetamine tablets, more than 220 lbs (100kg) of marijuana, and enough cocaine to kill a small elephant (18 lbs/ 8kg).

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