Kawasaki arrives
Kawasaki were extremely late to the party in terms of making motorcycles and competitions. Their first recognised success came in 1963 with a motocross win
In terms of tarmac racing the firm raced at Suzuka in October 1965 where a trio of disc-valved, water-cooled, two-stroke twins competed – all three retired for various reasons. A year later Kawasaki had managed to poach Toshio Fujii away from the now relatively successful Suzuki team and his knowledge and expertise saw the 125 twin much improved and sporting an eight-speed gearbox. Debuting at the West German GP, Fujii was holding a creditable 6th place until gremlins struck. His appearance at the Isle of Man ended in tragedy after a crash and Kawasaki didn’t compete again until the final race of the year at Fisco, Japan, where they fielded a large number of 125s and also announced their all-new 125cc four. Kawasaki weren’t taking any chances here, they were fielding a very serious team. Naomi Tanaguchi had moved over from Honda; sidecar and solo rider Chris Vinent was on board; Tohatsu star Dave Simmonds had a Kawasaki ride; and several Japanese riders were also on the improved twin. Kawasaki finished 7th, 8th and 10th, and the only dark cloud hanging over the firm was the serious head injury sustained by former MZ and Suzuki rider Ernst Degner.
The year 1967 saw a more concerted effort from Kawasaki, with Dave Simmonds signed up and riding both the 125 and the race version of the firm’s road-going 250 in the guise of the air-cooled A1-R production racer. Sadly, the fabulous 125 four was destined never to race in Europe. The Singapore GP in March of that year was potentially a huge advertisement opportunity in SE Asia for successful machinery, and Japanese riders Araoka and Tanaguchi had a pair of 125s each (twin and four cylinder types), plus 250 and 350 production racers (A1-R and A7-R). This concentrated effort gained a 1st and 2nd in the 350 class, 2nd and 3rd in the 250, a 3rd in 125 plus 3rd and 4th in the Open Class.
Come 1969, Simmonds was still an official works rider, but with minimal actual factory support. He acted as his own mechanic and had to repair, fettle and tune his own machine inside his caravan! In reality and in racing terms Simmonds’ bike was ‘old hat’ and theoretically past it. The factory shipped him two spare crankshafts, some odds and ends, some spare rings and four pistons – realistically he was on his own! Even though both Suzuki and Yamaha had officially quit, Simmonds was still up against serious competition from MZ, Villa, Aermacchi, Bultaco, etc., along with an ex-Suzuki 10-speeder all being ridden by established names. Poor qualifying, regular breakdowns and a severe absence of parts should have signalled failure, and yet out of the 11 GP races that year for 125s, Simmonds managed to win an incredible eight!
The following year Simmonds was going to be racing the all-new H1-R base around the phenomenal 500cc triple cylindered road bike and was told by Kawasaki that from this first batch … ‘we have selected the best possible one for you’.
A heavily revised 125 twin was also sent over, but still based around a design that was aging badly. The previous eight-speed transmission was dropped to new FIM rules and substituted by a six-speed unit.
New Zealander Ginger Molloy also had a factory H1-R and managed to finish runner-up to Giacomo Agostini on the MV Agusta. The best Simmonds could manage was 20th in the world standings, mainly due to the horrendous handling of the triple.
The 1971 season saw frame building legend Ken Sprayston design and build an all-new chassis for the H1-R motor, and by the end of the year Simmonds took the much improved missile to 4th place in the premier title race. The 125 was still going, just, and again the Kawasaki world champ managed to get the bike to fourth overall with virtually no spares.
The year 1972 wasn’t a good year for the Kawasaki race team, but there was a glimmer of better days to come when Padgetts of Batley entered an up-and-coming rider on the 500 triple. A young lad from Yorkshire called Mick Grant rode the still occasionally wayward H1-R to third place in that year’s Senior TT. As far as two strokes were concerned, Kawasaki really only bothered with the highprofile Daytona 200, but things were soon about to change.