So what if the design of the ZX-7RR was introduced as a 1996 model and is (hopefully) older than all of your underwear and socks? So what if the Kawi is the last Superbike to use carburetors? Its pilot Eric Bostrom is currently lying second in the AMA Championship. And closing.

"All you guys say our bike ready for the bike museum," says Kawasaki team manager Mike Preston, "but what does that say about all the other guys' bikes that aren't winning races and are behind us in the points?"

Preston certainly has a valid point. So how is the Kawasaki ZX-7RR managing to stay up front?

"Hard work," says new-for-2002 crewchief Matt Worbes. "It's just paying off."

There is no quick answer to the question of how the Kawasaki package has managed to stay competitive. It's just an engine part here, a suspension twist there, some hard riding thrown in for good measure. The ZX-7RR does everything reasonably well and is still chugging away in fine fashion despite its age, as evidenced by Bostrom's lofty championship position and recent showings on the track.

It is easy to say what the Kawasaki isn't; a two-wheeled rocket like the Honda RC51; a high-tech thoroughbred like the Ducati; A state-of-the-art, fuel injected four-cylinder Superbike like the Suzuki GSX-R or Yamaha R7. But the Kawasaki ZX-7RR is reliable, adjustable, easy on tires and in the right hands it is still a formidable weapon.

The Man

For starters, everyone agrees Bostrom is riding great; moonlighting in Europe this season has made Eric a better racer.

"That's helped his riding the most. He's got it in his head that he has to get up to speed right away," Worbes says. "You can't mess around out there, you have to go fast straight from the get-go to figure out what the bike is going to do at speed. You can't lollygag around at two seconds off the pace in the first session, then try to set the bike up off that."

Another point worth making is that, unlike some other riders we could mention, Bostrom doesn't crash the bike very often, forcing the mechanics to hustle to come up with enough pieces to start over.

The Chassis

The Kawasaki chassis works. The Kawi frame is described as being very adjustable and with a reputation as being easy on tires. Age doesn't affect physics and a good-handling motorcycle is a good-handling motorcycle, no matter the year of introduction.

While Worbes says the European experience hasn't helped with set-up because of differences in tracks and tires, Boz's US crew hasn't been afraid to experiment with some new ideas. "We've tried some different geometry settings than what we've used in the past. We've gone a different route, trying to make the bike more friendly for him." Losing crewchiefs Gary Medley and Al Ludigton was a blow to the team, but tossing some fresh ideas at the Kawi has paid dividends.

Kawasaki also adopted the new gas-charged Ohlins forks in the preseason and never gave up on them, even when others did. The new forks are said to have a different for the mechanics and the rider and initially left the team scrambling for new baseline settings.

The potential upside? The new forks have a wider variety of settings, and both low speed and high speed damping can be adjusted with the clickers instead of taking apart the forks. It is an advantage at the track, but too much adjustability can quickly get a team into trouble. "It's very adjustable and that can throw you sometimes. You have to run different spring rates, so all of our past history stuff is so different and we can't use that. We've had to start from scratch."

Junking years' worth of settings was a risk. The payoff is the team now has a good gauge on how to work with the new forks. "We struggled with that at the beginning of the year, but it was new to us and it was new to Ohlins for this machine. It had never been on a four-cylinder, only a twin," Worbes says of the forks used on the Ducati WSC bikes last season.

It all makes for an extremely adjustable package, perhaps the most adjustable of any Superbike. "They are a little bit different, but we just had to do was figure it out. Eric's gotten used to it as well. It's a different feel." Bostrom uses his two Superbikes to compare changes back-to-back, unlike some riders and teams that use only one Superbike.

All indications are there is still more learning left to do for the team in the handling department. On Sunday at Elkhart, Bostrom struggled a bit in the handling department on his way to third place. Both Worbes and Bostrom say there are still areas of improvement in the handling department in coming races.

The Engine

Engines are the Superbike parts that date the quickest. All the manus are constantly tweaking, and horsepower is always inching its way upward. Kawasaki's mill, despite its age, doesn't seem to have hit the wall yet.

Bostrom attributed his third place at Elkhart to having more horsepower than Aaron Yates's Suzuki. Worbes, Scott Stauffer and James Hashimoto make up the Kawasaki engine building team and they received a brace of World Superbike parts from Japan. "They've gotten some new stuff to us and we've done a lot dyno work to get a good combination," Worbes says. "We're happy with the way the thing ran (at Elkhart)."

When Kawasaki designed the ZX-7RR for '96, they used a more oversquare bore and stroke -- like an F1 engine -- that allows for theoretical higher revving. It's something Ducati has done with their Testastretta engines the past few years, too.

They'll need more of the same at Brainerd, another horsepower track.

And what can we expect from the team for the remainder of the season? "Hopefully, a bit of the same, just a little bit more," Worbes says in what could be the theme for the Kawasaki Superbike program. "We're only halfway through the season. Nicky has a weekend like (Colorado) and we're right there. We gained another two points this weekend."

In recent seasons, four-cylinder WSC team principals have claimed their bikes don't have a chance under the current Superbike rules. After watching Bostrom hang with the Hondas -- said to be very close to "Colin-spec" -- it's that kind of talk that is the only thing getting old here.