Two-Wheel Tuesday Spotlight: #54 HONOS Kawasaki ZX-6R Supersport

December 8, 2020 1 min read

Escalante’s middleweight mauler brought Kawasaki its first Supersport Championship since Leandro Mercado in 2009. *Photo by Brian J. Nelson.*

First introduced in this iteration back in 2013, the Kawasaki ZX-6R features a long-stroke 636cc engine that delivers more power in the low to midrange compared with most of the other 600-class engines. And yet, despite this displacement advantage, it took the combination of Graves Motorsports engineering and development plus rider Richie Escalante to transform the bike into a MotoAmerica Supersport Championship-winning motorcycle. With HONOS as his team’s main sponsor, Escalante won 13 out of 18 races on the way to his first MotoAmerica title.

Rider: Richie Escalante

Engine: Graves Motorsports-built 636cc, 4 Stroke, Liquid Cooled, 4 Cylinder, DOHC, 16 Titanium Valves

Electronics: Kawasaki ECU Flashed by FT ECU

Transmission: Six-speed constant mesh

Exhaust: Graves Motorsports WORKS2 titanium exhaust system with carbon fiber silencer

Quick-Turn Throttle: Motion Pro

Battery: Speedcell

Fuel: VP Racing

Lubrication: Maxima Racing Oil

Sprockets: Vortex

Final Drive: EK Chain

Front Suspension: Showa Big Piston Forks (BPF) with Öhlins FKR 100 Cartridge Kit