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