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This is the one situation where kawi should suit their stereotype and not let him change anything. Give him a bike that the test riders set up and tell him he has lost his set up privileges. If he rode a damn setup for more than a week, I feel like he would maybe improve.
Looks like the front is not comfortable. Needs a front scoop.
Cooper has been on the '26 since the start. Webb was on the '25 at the start of the season with the '26 engine package, but switched over to the '26 a few rounds ago.
Wait, what? Are you sure about that? I have not heard that at all.
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It's true
It becomes easier to believe if you get your facts straight and include the AC and Anderson years.
It's also been a dozen years since RV won his last title for them. Not sure how relevant that is for today's bike.
Ok... where is the evidence? I'm curious but I'm not going to just take a fellow Vitard's word for it.
I have no idea what he's on but was under the impression he was still on 25. I think the confusion might be conning from some of the comments he's made about continuing to test on the 26. He's making a real effort with his comments to be honest but also protect the brand it seems.
Just another Vitard here, but I also heard CW3 say in an interview that he's now moved to the '26 model, not just the engine.
Might try a few searches on the matter to put your mind at ease that we aren't just a bunch of pathological liars. 😄
CW3 interview
https://motocrossactionmag.com/cooper-webb-interview-we-are-on-our-newe…
It was mentioned on a race telecast a few weeks ago and I think Webb mentioned it as well?
I guess my memory of the Eli years was sort of that he could have had more success and actually had a fair amount of weirdo mechanical problems. Maybe things he said after the fact have kind of spoiled those years in my memory though.
Ty for the receipts. Interesting and he looked spicy this week. Like, right out in qualifying he was ripping.
That's good news. I was wondering about if the riders really don't like the bike and how Deegs is going to transition to outdoors on the new platform. Much better sign if Coop gets along with it.
Kawi is going to be the great test and career defining team for Chase, which will be interesting because something was awry with Chase and Kawasaki on individual levels long before they started working together.
Roczen and Chase handed off HRC (and all their data) to the Lawrence brothers who probably sharpened it and used it to make great bikes, albeit not without intermittent issues (usually just beginning of season setup stuff). I know Chase has some reasons for leaving Honda but one of them was clearly that he was gonna have to skedaddle if he wanted to still be top dog somewhere.
Then he built another bike with KTM, didn't get what he needed, and left the team with what's probably a wing of their factory with hard drives full of data in filling crates as far as the eye can see on bike setup and stuff. Prado and Tomac slid in. Jorge is comfy again and Eli not only gets to bounce info off of the aggressive riding style of Plessinger, but also Prado, who may be new to SX but is at home at KTM and probably is a goldmine of information on the bike and how to translate needs to testing changes.
Enter Kawasaki. They've been through it. Eli won for a second, but then shifted to showing intermittent speed and left unhappy. AC got on it, went fast as shit a lot, crashed out for substantial periods of time, and then had health complications and left. Jason was fast at times, hit the ground a bit, had a very up and down few seasons, and left unhappy. Jason Anderson was fast as shit at times, hit the ground at times, then had personal complications. Jorge rode it, crashed it, said ¡fuck! and went nuclear with his relationship with them in the hopes that the explosion might land him somewhere else. The team hasn't gotten championship type data in a few years now.
But I also think they're perfectly capable of getting there. It's gonna require Chase confronting the fact that while his speed can win on any day, his decision making is usually a turn behind and the bike seems to be weird. He needs to keep riding with the "just make it through the main" pace, get data, and spend however long it takes (even if it's a couple of seasons) learning how to just keep his head down and log laps at a smart and smooth pace while getting on the same page with the team enough to help them fix whatever is wonky as hell over there (because again, something is awry). And in doing so fixing himself. So it'll basically be an IFC b-movie story or bust. And I don't think getting himself fired out of a contract is an option for him so he's stuck.
I'm sure he's keeping an eye out for my advice too, I was able to do several of the jumps at my local track back in the day so I'm sure I'm on his radar.
Seemed to me he was winning titles on the Honda too
I’m not sure they will get there, simply because Chase’s skill set and the characteristics of the Kawasaki don’t match up, same with Prado. Everyone who has been successful at Kawi has been super aggressive, hard on the throttle, steering with the rear. RV, Tomac, Febvre and Anderson all have these traits and they were able to be successful on it. Sexton and Prado are basically the opposite. There’s nothing wrong with a bike having certain characteristics as long as they have the riders to compliment them. If you’re starting off with riders who need the bike to be the opposite to play to their strengths then I believe you will always be struggling.
I’m sure Chase will still have good rides, he probably wins again this season, but the variance from good to bad will be big and I don’t think he will feature as a title contender at the end of the season
Interesting. I definitely see where you're coming from, and do agree that the timetable of finding success with that team is past this year alone if it comes. If Chase has incompatibility with that many bikes and Kawasaki only fits a certain type of rider I think that says something about both of them right now that might be worth examining lol.
I do think they can do it though. Timetable might not be a ways out but they're sorta outta excuses so it's a figure it out or implode situation. I actually think him not hitting that table top this weekend was him being smart rather than going all out and subsequently crashing. I'd rather see the dude get P3-5 most of the season and stay healthy, build a foundation with the bike that he can carry over to mx, and then test really hard next off season and make another step forward. He's not ready to race Eli, Webb, Lawrence, and Roczen week in and week out anyways.
It's Chase though so he could also go on an absolute tear and make us eat our words lol.
Ergos and riding style of the Kawi and Chase makes sense. What I wonder is which side settled on the deal. Has Kawi finally turned a new leaf and we see an entirely new bike in ‘28? Or does Chase have to learn to adapt? I’m also curious what was so different at A2 that made the stars align, and why did they go away from it so quickly? Going to be an interesting few years under the green tent.
Pit Row
I think we all said this from the start!
perhaps fill in ride at KTM ?
The last thing Kawi needs is to cement their reputation as telling the rider to “ride what you got”. It’s a pivotal time to return Kawasaki to relevance and ditch last year as a Prado problem or confirm the team does not have what it takes to adapt to a championship caliber rider. They can’t wait till the next generation bike, and who knows if that will be any better?
I think there’s lessons to be learned on both sides. From Sexton’s perspective, this is going on 6 years now where he’s been chasing a perfect set up and he’s never managed to find it, so that should probably indicate to him that he’s probably never going to find what he’s looking for in that regard. He wasn’t happy with the bike at KTM and he still won an outdoor title and won 7 SX races last year, so he’s already proven that he can win on a set up he’s not entirely happy with. I don’t understand why he keeps changing so much.
From Kawasaki’s perspective, they hired two of the top elite talents in the world in the past 2 years, and both of them looked the worst they ever have in their career on the Kawi and Prado was willing to give up a very substantial amount of money to get out of his deal. Even if they believe that they have done everything they can and it’s not their fault I still think that is the kind of thing that should lead to some kind of internal review into how they are doing things.
I fully agree when you say that they will either figure it out or implode. It was easy to blame Prado last year because he’d made such a big change and most in the US were not as familiar with his talent. But now people are starting to see how good he really is, and Sexton is now struggling, it shifts the focus. It can’t continue in the same way as the last couple of races for much longer. JT said on the review pod that he’s already hearing that things are bit more dicey over there than they are letting on. Not sure whether he means the relationship between Kawi and Sexton or just the general team atmosphere, but something is going to break one way or the other
Go back and look at his first season of SX on the Honda 450. Wasn’t much winning going on. I believe he finished 12th in points.
The writing is on the wall at this point.
Suzuki? Rocko's makin it work.
He was pretty young.
I feel too many people are ignoring Chase's early success on the Kawasaki with qualifying on top at least once and a win at A2.
It's easy for people to say the Kawasaki sucks when it's not on the podium, but let's be honest, they only have one star rider out there in the 450 mains that is capable to be on the podium.
Chase is under a microscope at this point and I couldn't imagine the pressure he is under to perform, and this might be the bigger part of the problem.
It's definitely not looking good is it...
At what point does he realise that the issue is him and not the bike?
Maybe a bike / team sitch will fix his head
It was mentioned in the PitBits that ML posted with pictures.
Post a reply to: Panic Button for Chase/Kawi?