Video: Onboard a Kawasaki Ninja H2 at Auto Club Speedway

Onboard video footage of supercharged 200 rear-wheel-horsepower goodness at speed on Auto Club Speedway's 2.36-mile road course

There's no doubt that everyone has been feeling a little bombarded with the hype surrounding Kawasaki's astounding Ninja H2 (and its track-only brother, the H2R). From the first teaser videos of the bikes to the eventual release of photos and information, there's been plenty of both positive and negative speculation to go around. But now that the American press finally got the opportunity to swing a leg over Kawasaki's street-legal supercharged beast at Fontana, California's Auto Club Speedway and its 2.34-mile/21-turn infield road course, the veil of unknown performance has (mostly) been lifted.

Does the Ninja H2 live up to the hype? It surprisingly does for the most part, with monster midrange-to-top-end acceleration that no normally aspirated machine can match, and handling that is also surprisingly capable of getting around a road course without requiring undue gymnastics to hustle it around turns. And it does it while meeting all tailpipe and sound emissions standards required for street legality. Furthermore, there's a quality of build with the H2 that isn't present in the vast majority of bikes out there, something that's been overlooked in the all the Facebook chatter about the bike's $25K price tag.

Stay tuned for our First Ride report that is coming shortly that will go into detail of the what, how, and why of the Ninja H2's performance. But in the meantime, check out the onboard video of a lap on the Ninja H2 at Auto Club Speedway.

Oh, and also stay tuned for our upcoming videos and feature on our ride on the track-only H2R as we pit it against a trio of mega-horsepower supercars...

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