Kawasaki Superbike

Following Tom Sykes victory at Nurburgring, which was Kawasaki's first win in the World Superbike season since 2006, the Japanese marquee has announced it will continue in the series for 2012 with additional emphasis.

The rain-washed, shortened Nurburgring race proved the revamped 2011 ZX-10R has what it takes, but for 2012 Kawasaki has "decided to exercise a greater degree of control over the engineering and structured development of the flagship machine."

For the past three years, Kawasaki has worked with the Cumbrian-based Paul Bird Motorsports, but this relations ends at the conclusion of the 2011 World Superbike Championship.

Kawasaki's Race Manager, Ichiro Yoda, had some great words for the Paul Bird Motorpsorts efforts; he also discussed Kawasaki's WSBK future.

Ichiro Yoda (Kawasaki Superbike Race Manager) says: "We have enjoyed three valuable years alongside the Paul Bird Motorsport team and would like to put on record our sincere thanks for the time, effort and dedication they have shown to the Kawasaki World Superbike racing programme.

"The direction of our World Superbike effort from 2012 moves to even closer control from our HQ where decisions will be made back in Japan next year.

"There are plans for much more testing in the future and so from a European logistical perspective Kawasaki's WSB operating base will need to be close to the best circuits and good weather conditions, for practical reasons. Additionally, this new situation must also match the budget constraints that the company has to operate within.

"Understandably, it is a considerable challenge to develop a brand new machine into a potential race winner whilst competing in the public arena, and we applaud the efforts of all those who have contributed towards getting us to our current position. We hope that everyone with an interest in the World Superbike Championship will look forward to seeing Kawasaki on the grid once more in 2012."