Buzzin MotoGP

Kawasaki 2008

The latest Moto gp news suggests that the Japanese Kawasaki team has closed down its factory squad with immediate effect.

The global economic situation is thought to have been the major element in the team’s decision, although poor results in Moto GP throughout 2008 may have made that decision a little easier to make for the factory team. Despite the promise of so much more the ZZ-RR failed to build on it’s early promise and trailed the field during the best part of the Moto Gp 2008 campaign.

If the rumours are true it will have a devastating effect on the Moto GP grid, leaving just seventeen starters for the coming season’s races. It will also leave two top riders without a place in Moto GP, Marco Melandri and John Hopkins would currently have nowhere to go.

Kawasaki had secured the services of John Hopkins with a big money signing at the start of the 2008 season and had hoped that the in form American rider would develop the bike into a world beater. Injuries and a bad handling machine hampered Hopkins progress throughout the season and team mate Anthony West could fare no better. The best results of the year for both riders being a solitary fifth place each, at Estoril and Brno respectively.

The Kawasaki factory team signed Marco Melandri to partner a fired up Hopkins for the 2009 campaign and had hoped that the pair would lead the development of the ZZ-XR machine into the dawn of a new era.

While the moto gp grid will be down to just four manufacturer teams and 17 riders for 2009, World Superbike is seeing a resurgence of interest from factory teams with BMW and Aprilia joining the series for 2009 and 31 riders taking part on the track.