Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR

The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR is the race bike with which Kawasaki competed in the MotoGP world championship until 2009. It made its debut towards the end of the 2002 season with Andrew Pitt and Akira Yanagawa riding. Shinya Nakano gave it its first podium, a third place at the 2004 Japanese Grand Prix, and it then took second place in each of the next three seasons, with Olivier Jacque in China in 2005, Nakano in the Netherlands in 2006 and Randy de Puniet in Japan in 2007. The 2008 season was difficult, with a lack of front-end feel and rear traction on corner exit blamed by its riders, and Kawasaki announced its withdrawal from MotoGP during that season. Forward Racing then ran the bike as the Hayate team with Marco Melandri, who finished fourth in 2009, and a modified version has appeared a few times since as the Avintia GP14 up to 2014.