• Kork Ballington's 1979 and 1980 World Championship works machine
• Five Grand Prix wins in 1980
• Purchased directly from the factory in 1982
• Grand Prix winner's trophies included
• Valuable spare parts kit

Few machines in Grand Prix racing's modern era have enjoyed such a lengthy period of dominance as the Kawasaki 'tandem twins' which ruled the 250 and 350 classes from 1978 to 1982, winning 72 GPs and securing eight World Championships for the Japanese manufacturer.

A radical design, the KR250/350 employed the rotary inlet valves that had been a feature of previous Kawasaki two-strokes, but avoided the associated disadvantage of excess width (when applied to a conventional parallel twin) by using two inline cylinders with separate geared-together crankshafts. As well as the advantage of asymmetrical inlet timing, the use of direct crankcase induction via rotary disc valves enabled an extra transfer port to be accommodated in the cylinder where the inlet port would have been, while the tandem arrangement also left more room for the side transfer ports.

After an inauspicious debut season in 1975, the KR250 took a Grand Prix sabbatical in 1976, returning to the fray in '77 in heavily revised form with altered crankshaft phasing and mono-shock rear suspension. Mick Grant scored the KR's debut GP victory at Assen that year and followed up with a win in Sweden, but it was not until Kork Ballington's arrival the following year that the KR posed a serious championship threat. The South African went on to secure both the 250 and 350 World Championships in 1978 and '79, while German Anton Mang took the 250 World Championship in 1980 and '81 and the 350 title in 1981 and '82.

This KR250 is a 1979 model used for that season and in 1980, the last year Kork Ballington competed in the 250cc World Championship. This bike has pedigree: it is one of two that were available to Kork throughout 1979 and 1980 (there were no new bikes were made for 1980) and has been confirmed by former Kawasaki crew chief, Ken Suzuki as the World Championship-winning machine from 1979. In 1979 Kork secured seven wins on his way to the World Championship (Germany, Italy, Spain, Finland, Great Britain, Czechoslovakia and France). In 1980 he had bagged five victories (Spain, France, Finland, Great Britain and Germany) and a 2nd place from seven starts when illness forced him to miss three rounds of the Championship, namely the Yugoslavian, Dutch and Belgian, which undoubtedly robbed him of the opportunity to collect his fifth World title. He finished 2nd in the World Championship that year.

This Kawasaki KR250 carries the No. 1 plate as Kork had won the 1979 250cc World Championship. The KR250 is in excellent original condition and was in perfect running order when last started. Kork acquired the machine from the factory in 1982, and it has not been ridden since 1980 apart from periodically being started and ridden up the street outside his home! After the last start-up in 2018, Kork gave it a complete strip and clean, assembled it dry and has kept it in his climate controlled trophy room. It had slight damage to the magnesium water pump cover, which was repaired. The frame and cycle parts are as last raced in 1980, and the slick tyres are still on it. There is a comprehensive spares kit including possibly the last new crankshaft kits on the planet together with cylinders, pistons, rings and lots of other valuable parts (list available). To quote Kork: "one could run the bike for many years if careful".

The trophies from the following five Grand Prix wins will be included in the sale also:

Spanish GP at Jarama 18/5/80
French GP at Paul Ricard 35/5/80
German GP at the Nrburgring 24/8/80
British GP at Silverstone 10/8/80
Finnish GP at Imatra 27/7/80

A rare opportunity to acquire a genuine, ex-works, World Championship racing motorcycle of impeccable provenance and presented in very good condition throughout. A signed copy of Kork's autobiography, Ballington Uncorked, come with it, and he hopes its new owner will get as much pleasure from owning the machine as he has.