Another American in the SBK Paddock

Julian Correa will run in Sportbike on a Kawasaki for Pons.

https://www.motoamerica.com/america...all-new-2026-fim-world-sportbike-championship

 

For those of you unfamiliar with him, like I was, here you go.

https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/roadracing-world-young-guns-2025-julian-correa/

A snippet from RRW above:
Recent racing accomplishments: 2024 season, finished fourth in the British Talent Cup Championship (two wins, 10 total podiums); 2023 season, placed fifth in British Talent Cup Championship (three podiums, 11 top-10 finishes), 2022 season, placed 12th in British Talent Cup Championship (one podium, eight top-10 finishes); 2021 season, competed as a wild card in four British Talent Cup races (best race finish was 10th)

 

I am happy for him, but I don't get the 636 in sportbike.

 

It's fucking stupid allowing Honda and Kawasaki to run their 4 cyl bikes in the class. Im going to guess it's the only way those brands would play.

 

I'm confused, is this for the new gen class? If so, aren't the R9's, GSXR750 with ride-by-wire, and Ducati V2 faster than 600's? Since those new bikes are dominating the class now, if the also rans still want to run, what is the harm in that?

 

No this is the sportbike class replacing wss300. RS660, R7, GSX8R, Triumph Daytona 660, Kove 450RR (4 cyl), CBR600RR, ZX636. Strict balancing rules with a target of 90hp.

 

Why would anyone run anything in that class other than an RS660 giving it can run a stock motor, is by far the lightest of its group, and has a great chassis.

 

Okay, thank you for explaining that. It does seem crazy allowing 600's in the class. Having said that, depending on the rules, and weight allowed, a 90HP 600/636 motor would be very unstressed and would last a long time.

Makes sense. If I step up to twins, that is the bike I would want.

 

Why would they not have the kawi ZX400R running instead of the 636?

 

Probably because it would be really expensive to get it to 90HP.

 

For some reason I thought it made around 80hp stock, but I did a search that proved my thought wrong.


The Kawasaki ZX400RR's horsepower varies by market:
it makes a maximum of ~77 hp (~57 kW)in Europe (rising to ~79 hp with ram air) but is restricted to ~56 hp (~42 kW) in the US. Australia's version has a rating of ~74 hp (~55 kW). All models use a high-revving 399cc inline-four engine that produces its peak power at a high RPM, around 14,500 rpm

 

the bike is a bit heavy and it seems like they don't like to be leaned on too hard.. 90 would be a stretch.