Paul Young 2015 Kawasaki Insurances FX300 Ninja Cup Champion
Another year of the Kawasaki Insurances FX300 Ninja Cup came to a close at the final round of the 2015 Australasian Superbike Championship held at Sydney Motorsport Park over the weekend.
The competition was fierce and plentiful in the second year of the highly acclaimed series with a record total of 43 individual riders competing over the course of the 7 round series. A $30,000 prize pool motivated the young and seasoned riders alike, who found themselves intensely in the hunt for Ninja 300 supremacy.
As track temperatures soared to above 50°C, Paul Young started the day off with a spill in race one on his SA Kawasaki BCperformance Kawasaki Ninja 300, placing him at the back of the grid for the beginning of the second race. The experienced rider made short work of his opponents, slicing up the field and taking the lead in only 2 and a half laps.
“A five lap race gives you a short window of opportunity. I nailed the start, which I’ve managed nine times out of ten throughout the series, so I’ve got a good technique and that does half the job,” commented the AMCN employee.
“It’s good to be amongst the younger, up and coming riders because I’ve been there in my early racing days. I know what they are thinking, I know what they are feeling out there. I’ve never been short of advice regardless of who it is because that’s how you help along the sport in Australia,” said Paul after he claimed the second race of the day.
Paul Young took out the series overall and together with the SA Kawasaki BCperformance racing team, he collected the first prize reward of a brand new 2016 KX450F.
Series runner up, Tony Jones, received a 2016 Kawasaki Ninja 300 for his efforts.
Jack Dawes was third, followed by Hunter Ford and Ryan Masri who rounded out the top 5 overall for the series.
Following the performance aboard his Ninja 300, Ryan Masri’s skill and ambition has landed him a place on a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R next year with team SA Kawasaki BCperformance. “Can’t wait! But I still have a job to do this weekend and after we get this out of the way, well focus on the 600’s,” Ryan commented.
Julie Klinker and Keegan Pickering displayed thrilling racing in the Ladies class throughout the series with a mere 5 points granting Julie the Ladies class, while Queenslander, Mark Rogers, raced consistently to take the 2015 Seniors class title.
The Kawasaki Motors Finance team was fortunate enough to have Australian Motorcyclist Magazine’s, Stuart Woodbury, mount their wildcard Ninja 300 racing machine over the weekend. In recent times, Stuart has competed in Post Classic motorcycle racing, where he has always been a front runner. Drawing from his many years of racing experience, the wildcard rider said “It was great and I had a bit of fun! Obviously, racing a 300cc production motorcycle is different to the way you push a litre bike or a 600cc. Being used to larger capacity bikes, I found that I had to change up my riding style which takes a fair bit of getting used to, but I came through and had a ball trying to keep up with the ‘light weights’. I had a few good battles with all of the riders,” Stuart said.
“The class is perfect for younger, less experienced riders. It’s all about teaching the art of racing and it’s cost effective. Anyone can do it!” commented Stuart.
National Sales and Marketing Manager of Kawasaki Motors Australia, Robert Walker, said, “We are immensely proud to have established such a successful road racing series with Australia’s bestselling road motorcycle, the Kawasaki Ninja 300. The attention and participation that the Kawasaki Insurances FX300 Ninja Cup has brought to Australian motorsport has been tremendous.”
“The series has always been about providing an affordable and fun pathway into road racing for budding road racers of all age levels and it reflects our commitment and support to the sport within Australia. This production based class has given privateers an opportunity to delve into road racing at a national level and many of them have harnessed the experience gathered from the series, and focused their efforts into stepping up into larger capacity racing next year,” Robert Walker commented.
The Kawasaki Insurances FX300 Ninja Cup is set to continue in 2016, with a similar prize pool on offer for the winners.
