Press Release: With a long heritage of off-road racing that includes countless wins and championships, Kawasaki is looking to break new ground in 2025 with the announcement of RWD Racing Kawasaki, which will compete in the UTV Open Class at select UTV races and kick off its season at the historic Mint 400 in Primm, Nevada, on March 6–7, 2025.
Russ Wernimont Designs (RWD) and Kawasaki began working together in 2021 and immediately put their Teryx KRX®1000 side x side on top of the podium with driver Carson Wernimont. Over the last four years, RWD and Kawasaki have continued to show the capabilities of their vehicle to capture race wins and championships in the naturally aspirated UTV Pro NA class. For 2025, RWD Racing Kawasaki is taking on the challenge of competing in the UTV Pro Open class with a purpose-built supercharged Kawasaki side x side race machine.
Kawasaki has been developing supercharged engines in various powersports platforms over the last decade, starting with the 300+ hp Kawasaki Ninja H2®R motorcycle in 2015. Through unprecedented collaboration between multiple divisions within Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.—including Powersports, Gas Turbine & Machinery, Aerospace Company, and Corporate Technology Divisions—development now includes side x side engines.
RWD Racing Kawasaki will be a part of Kawasaki’s continued supercharged engine development with a new 999cc in-line 4 supercharged side x side engine as part of Project H2. Carson Wernimont and co-driver Brady Kelly will line up for qualifying on Thursday, March 6th in Primm, NV, to debut their new UTV Pro Open race machine with their sights set on the podium of The Mint 400 on Friday, March 7th.
“We’ve spent countless hours working on this new Kawasaki race car and are ready to line up at The Mint 400. This race has so much history and it would be awesome to stand on the podium here. We’ve tested in our development and now we are ready for the ultimate test of racing.” — Carson Wernimont, Driver.
“Kawasaki has given us a great platform to build off of as we tackle the incredible challenge of competing in the UTV Pro Open Class. Our team has built this race car from the ground up and the support from Kawasaki has been amazing. We are really looking forward to helping Kawasaki with its engine development and have fun chasing race wins.” — Russ Wernimont, Team Owner.
About Kawasaki
Kawasaki started full-scale production of motorcycles over a half century ago. The first Kawasaki motorcycle engine was designed based on technical know-how garnered from the development and production of aircraft engines, and Kawasaki’s entry into the motorcycle industry was driven by the company’s constant effort to develop new technologies.
Numerous new Kawasaki models introduced over the years have helped shape the market, and in the process have created enduring legends based on their unique engineering, power, design, and riding pleasure. In the future, Kawasaki Motors, Ltd. is committed to maintaining and furthering these strengths, which will surely give birth to new legends.
Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A. markets and distributes Kawasaki motorcycles, ATVs, side x sides, and JET SKI® watercraft through a network of approximately 1,100 independent retailers, with close to an additional 7,700 retailers specializing in general purpose engines. Kawasaki and its affiliates employ nearly 3,100 people in the United States, with approximately 260 of them located at Kawasaki's Foothill Ranch, California headquarters.
Kawasaki’s tagline, “Let The Good Times Roll.®”, is recognized worldwide. The Kawasaki brand is synonymous with powerful, stylish, and category-leading vehicles. Information about Kawasaki’s complete line of powersports products and Kawasaki affiliates can be found at: www.kawasaki.com.
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