In 2002 at Motegi, Honda's home track, Kawasaki rolled out its first GP bike in almost 20 years. In 2004 they equalled their best ever GP finish (3rd). They have taken the across the frame 4 format, a form they can honestly say they have some experience with and built a pretty good MotoGP contender. In 2004 a slipper clutch was added, along with new exhausts and cams that built up the torque, made more power, and laid that power down more evenly. With the exception of a Bridgestone failure at mid-session, it was a constant march forward in terms of technical and racing improvements. O.J. just put the Big-Bang Kwak on the second step of the podium in China (May 2005). In difficult, rainy conditions the bike went well enough in its new configuration to be easy on the tyres, and fast out of the corners. The Big-Bang motor is the latest incarnation of the Kawasaki engine, seemingly allowing multiple cylinders to fire on the same stroke, then giving a long period of quiet to the transmission to settle things down. The Big-Bang engine seems to have been the inspiration of the new chief development engineer in Japan, Ichiro Yoda, who came over from Yamaha and the development of the M1.
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