Kawasaki Press Day: Twistin' It To The Nines by andy fenwick Thursday, July 06, 2006
Worn out, hung over, lacking sleep, and flying over the Golden Gate Bridge at 6 AM on my way to SFO airport, I still couldn't help but chuckle. I was thinking back on yesterday's 30 seconds of pleasure. No, I had not lost my virginity, but my drag-race virginity and, coincidently, the amount of time both took were surprisingly the same.
I, along with quite a few other motojournalists, was invited to Infineon Raceway in Napa Valley, California, to partake in Kawasaki's press weekend--a kind of a "get-to-know-the-big-K-and-their-product" deal that was an absolute blast. Not only were we riding all of their new bikes, but we actually were hanging with some of their best. Guys from the past like Gary Nixon, Jeff Emig, and current star Rickey Gadson. We rode street bikes through Napa Valley and along Highway 1, followed by a full track-day riding ZX-10R's and ZX-6R's and such. Even a mini-moto race on KLX110's for the journalists that yours truly whipped ass in and won. Now, I must admit, for me, it was pretty damn cool hanging out with Nixon, bumming a few cigarettes and having a few too many drinks.
But the absolute highlight and something I wouldn't even think would interest me was the three passes we got on Kawasaki's almighty and all-new ZX-14. Did I mention that this is the most powerful motorcycle Kawasaki has ever produced, churning out something around 177 horsepower for those of you keeping track?
I actually got to ride the ZX-14 quite a bit over the weekend on the street and was really impressed with its subdued and civilized manners, along with its unbelievable acceleration and all-around comfort and get-things-done disposition. Kind of like the Cake song," I want a girl with a short skirt and a long jacket", the big ZX does a pretty good job of hiding its bulk while back-roading it. She's no scratcher, but you're not going to feel like you're getting totally short-changed on the deal, either. Just hang in there, brother, push her around a little bit 'cause, sooner or later, a nice straight is going to materialize, and you will have sweet justice. Now, I can safely say the ZX-14 is the fastest outright accelerating bike I have ever ridden--pretty nice for an over-the-counter drug.
Sunday night, we were slated for some passes at the Infineon drag strip after the Superbike national, but Mother Nature's rainstorm ruined that deal. Monday's schedule, a full day of track riding all of the big K's bikes meant little or no time for drag racing. At lunch time, most of the seasoned journalists asked to have some time at the end of the day to ride the drag strip, which would mean no more track riding since the tracks intersect. I was indifferent and didn't vote for the drag strip until a few sharp blows to my ribs by the nice fellow I was sitting next to forced my arm up. Majority ruled, and we were riding drag bikes! Oh, did I tell you that Kawasaki's present hired gun, drag racing guru Gadson, had done a nice little high-side earlier in the morning and had left with a broken hand and a slightly scrambled noggin? This meant no star instruction, just plain old-fashioned seat-of-your-pants hammer-dropping.
Ex-motocrosser Jeff Emig was first up, since he had to split to catch a flight or something important like that. He had a ripper launch, but the ZX-14 pretty much lit up the rear almost half the way down the strip. I thought, well hell, this cat is pretty much the deal, and he couldn't even get that thing hooked up and sailing straight. But some time went by and, after some other passes, the track was coming in and, soon, it was my turn to go.
Kawasaki employee Jeff Herzog, who is an old-school roadracer from back in the day, told me to pretend I just crashed in my heat race, got gridded in the back row, and am pissed. I kept the RPMs at about 7 grand, slid the clutch, and just banged some shifts. The ZX-14 responded with missile-like acceleration and the weird ability to increase its velocity the faster it went. My first pass netted a 10.730, which is pretty fast, considering that I felt I could do a lot better launch and my shifts were not that good on that run.
On my second pass, I smoothed out and laid down a 10.177 and, on my last pass, I did a 10.112. Damn close to a nine, but no cigar. My passes were over and I can't tell you how much I would have paid to have three more goes at a nine! The good news was that no one bettered my time, even though Rickey Gadson showed up shortly after my last pass. Despite the broken hand and the crutches, he schooled the remaining magazine geeks. The only thing more impressive then the ZX-14's speed was seeing Gadson show up hurt but smiling, and hang out with the group and help people get on with the bike. Now, I know why they pay that guy the big bucks.
Earlier in the weekend, I was robbed in the Mini-Moto race won the journalist race on KLX110's, so the good guys at Soup looked pretty good by the end of the weekend.
Great food, lots of riding, and a little bit of racing were all I needed to make the last night of my press weekend shoot off like a bottle rocket. Sure, I drank too much, stayed out too late and probably shouldn't have smoked all of those damn cigarettes with Nixon. But, as the old Cajun saying and Kawasaki slogan goes, "let the good times roll," and Kawasaki does.
