Kawasaki announces riders

by Dave · December 6, 2008

Kawasaki has announced its new road race riders for 2009.

Multiple World Supersport Championship podium achiever, Kevin Curtain, will ride the Ninja ZX-10R in the 2009 Australian Superbike Championships and 2007 Daytona podium finisher, Ben Attard, will ride the all new 2009 model Ninja ZX-6R in the 2009 Australian Supersport Championships.

Kevin Curtain, from Fishing Point, NSW is highly regarded and respected both in Australia and abroad and his list of achievements indicates a career that most riders only dream about. Starting his racing career in 1993, Kevin has gone on to not only race on the world’s best race tracks, but also win on them! Kevin finished the 2005 and 2006 World Supersport Championships in 2nd place. He has won three Australian Supersport Championships and won the 1998 Australian Production Superbike Championships. Kevin also won the last of the motorcycle endurance races at Bathurst in 2000. Kevin is very happy to be with Kawasaki in 2009.

“It’s great to be with KRT! My first impression of the Ninja ZX-10R is that we’ve got something really good to work with. We’re currently testing and developing it to suit my style and I’m really looking forward to riding it in 2009.”

Ben Attard from Eatons Hill in QLD started his racing career on motocross tracks at age seven. Winning a handful of MX and SX titles, Ben switched to road racing in 1998. Ben is no stranger to the green machine having ridden for Attack Kawasaki in the USA from 2005-2007. During his time racing in the AMA Supersport Championships, Ben was on the podium no fewer than nine times. He came 2nd at Daytona in 2007 and fi nished the 2006 season in 4th place.

Closer to home, Ben won the fi nal two races of the 2008 Australian Supersport Championships, racing as a full privateer. Ben finished the season in 4th place. Ben is extremely optimistic about his chances on board the all new Ninja ZX-6R in 2009.

“The bike feels great. In fact it’s a lot better than when I rode it in 07 for Attack Kawasaki. This new Ninja ZX-6R is defi nitely a potential winner and I can’t wait to get out on the track for KRT in 2009.”

KRT manager, Dave Cullen says, “We’ve put together the strongest team possible for KRT in 2009. Ben has valuable overseas experience racing on Kawasakis in the States and showed last year that he has the skill and determination to win on the all new Ninja ZX-6R. Kevin brings a wealth of experience to KRT. He is a professional racer in every sense and has proven this on the world stage.”

“We’re very excited about 2009. We have an all new ZX-6R that’s already exhibited during its initial testing, a superior engine and better handling characteristics over the previous model. We’ve done shakedown tests with the new bike and team and our riders are settling in nicely. It’s great to work with Kev again and the exciting talent of Ben Attard.”

Kevin Curtain’s and Ben Attard’s first offi cial outing with KRT will be the opening round of the 2009 Australian Superbike Championships at Winton, Vic, on 13-15 February.