Newsletter

The official race report service of Kawasaki Racing Team.

KX450-SR

Now embarking on a fourth season in the premier off road Championship globally, the Belgian based Kawasaki Racing Team have been steadily developing in their full factory race weapon, the incredible KX450-SR.
 
The team – with help from not just the factory in Japan, but carefully selected partners across the globe - have been continually assess every aspect of the race machine which is derived from and accurately reflects the KX450 machine sold by Kawasaki dealers.
 
Coordinating the development between the Akashi factory race workshop in Japan and via secret testing at tracks across the globe, KRT and Kawasaki engineers have made a number of changes and upgrades across a rigorous Winter test period to suit the needs of established rider, Romain Febvre and talented newcomer, Pauls Jonass.
 
Traction and grip were also a point of reference in the development stage and the KX450 chassis, suspension and wheels were all given special attention to aid the precision of the new factory SR – particularly front end grip and feel, essential when each tenth is crucial at the highest level of racing. And regarding suspension, KRT enjoys full factory support from Showa for the 2025 season.
 
Electronic rider aids continue to grow in importance and the team have maximised their effectiveness while still delivering the essential feeling of overall control to the riders – a fine balance but something that is a particular skill of the factory, team and technical partners. The KRT KX450-SR riders have at their fingertips, electronic launch control for race starts, traction control and switchable ignition maps all activated and monitored from the onboard Motec ECU.  
 
Rolling once more on grip hungry and precise Dunlop tyres – and supported by numerous technical and product sponsors – the KRT KX450-SR is a known race winner. Now the challenge for Febvre and Jonass is to turn race wins into championship dominance. 

KX250

Returning to a full-factory MX2 effort after an absence of some twenty years, KRT have spent the past months concentrating on the development of the KX250 available from Kawasaki dealers into a race-winning machine uniquely designated the KX250-SR. 
The only team globally running the SR specification, the 2025 season race machine is the result of a carefully choreographed collaboration of many partners conducted in great secrecy. 
 
Already at somewhat of an advantage in terms of the chassis (which is based on that of the KX450-SR), the majority of time has been spent on engine R&D focussing on drawing the very best from the recently updated machine. 
Essential to unlocking the most power from the quarter litre machine has been the newly introduced straight inlet and exhaust path arrangement which increases combustion efficiency and acts as a perfect base to develop a retail machine to full SR specification.
 
On a deeper level, the team has asked tuning partners and the Kawasaki factory in Japan to examine each component (however seemingly insignificant) and see if can be made lighter, more durable and contribute to a powerful yet flexible engine specification. 
 
With the historical MX2 experience of Pauls Jonass to call upon – as well as the current “hot shot”, Mathis Valin – the team have been able to fast lane the development of a machine to the point that they feel confident to enter the fray for the opening rounds of the season with the full intention of further adjustments and “fine-tuning” across a fiercely competitive racing year.