Kawasaki out of 2009 MotoGP?

December 31, 2008

Kawasaki may be on the cusp of pulling the pin on the 2009 MotoGP World Championship, according to a report on www.cyclenews.com.

Californian John Hopkins, who is contracted to race for Kawasaki in 2009 alongside Italian Marco Melandri,  confirmed reports the Japanese manufacturer is considering its racing future at the highest level, and an announcement could come as soon as January 5.

"I heard it's up in the air, but I haven't heard anything confirmed yet," Hopkins was quoted as saying on www.cyclenews.com. "I got some calls from the team manager (Michael Bartholemy) and he said that everything could be up in the air as to whether they run it or not, but nothing has been confirmed.

"I don't know what it would do to me. I'm really not sure. I've been talking to my managers and seeing what the plan is and they've been on the phone to Japan trying to figure it out as well. Right now I'm still contracted to them so I'm not sure what the plan is."

The withdrawal of Kawasaki presents a multitude of complications, not the least the manufacturer's contract with Dorna, the rights holder of MotoGP racing, to compete in the championship.

To that end, the rumour mill is in overdrive that Jorge Martinez, who has steered his Aspar team to a number of 125cc and 250cc world titles, is being courted to take over the day-to-day running of the Kawasaki MotoGP team to save the manufacturer a huge fine from Dorna, which itself is under the pump from the FIM about the number of bikes on the grid -- which will be just 17 if a Kawasaki doesn't appear at the season opener in Qatar on April 12.

If Martinez does take over, will it be one or two riders? If it's the former, Hopkins is likely to bring across personal sponsorship from Monster Energy to cement his spot, which would leave Melandri on the outer.

A number of scenarios have been proffered about the Italian's future, including a seat alongside Yuki Takahashi at Team Scot, or rejoining his old team, Gresini. However, both of those would require Honda to make availabale more bikes, which may be a contentious issue in the current economic climate.

Kawasaki has already completed a number of pre-season tests on the 2009 version of the ZX-RR, including a visit to Phillip Island.

It's not understood whether Kawasaki's withdrawal from MotoGP will affect its world Superbike operation, which is being run by the British-based Paul Bird Motorsport in 2009.