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German tuning house Holey has done the once over to this Kawasaki ZX-10R, and given it the race replica look of Marco Melandri’s Hayate race bike. We’ve been short-fused with race replicas lately, but there’s something about the Hayate replica that we really enjoy. Maybe its the dark color scheme, or maybe its just the inspiring story behind the little MotoGP that could. More photos after the jump.

Source: Moto Special via MotoBlog.it

Well it’s official, Marco Melandri will join Marco Simoncelli at Team Marco Gresini Honda for the 2010 season. With Kawasaki out of MotoGP for 2010, the fact that Melandri would find roots elsewhere was assured. Melandri is no stranger to the Gresini team, during the 2005 season Marco joined Gresini on the Honda Telefonico Moviestar team, riding alongside Spaniard Sete Gibernau.

Rumors are flying as to whether Kawasaki will be on the MotoGP grid come 2010. If the Italian press is to be believed, Hayate Team Manager Andrea Dosoli has already declared that Hayate will be a no-show for next season.

However, an interview with Marco Melandri at Laguna Seca, by reliable MotoGP Matters, suggests that Kawasaki has yet to make a decision on MotoGP, and could be holding judgment until after the next round at the Sachensring .

jorge-lorenzo-fiat-yamaha-le-mans

As we , Le Mans is known for its rapidly changing weather patterns, and a mixture of both rain and sunshine is not uncommon for the French track. The weather gods being unappeased, they decided to bring both the rain and the sun for MotoGP fans in France today. From the very beginning of the French GP things were interesting: with the GP run on a dry track, but riders leaving the grid on rain tires. With teams having to make the call on whether to stay out on rains, or sacrifice time and pit in, there were some interesting results from the choices being made. Continue reading for the spoilers.

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When Marco Melandri signed with Hayate, he knew that Kawasaki would only be doing limited development on the ZX-RR in 2009. According to MCN that limited development will be quite limited after all, with Kawasaki ceasing to update the ZX-RR at the end of March, shortly after the Jerez tests. From then on, the factory will provide a maintenance service only, with no more upgrades, leaving Hayate to update the bike if they wish.

 

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Today Marco Melandri confirmed that he has signed a one-year contract with Hayate Racing to race in this year’s MotoGP championship that will replace his previous two-year contract with Kawasaki.

The deal is a costly one for Melandri, both financially and in terms of his ability to compete. “I had to make a big financial sacrifice, but the most important thing that I wanted was to find trust,” he told MotoGP. Throughout the last test at Qatar, Melandri complained of issues with rear grip, a similar complaint he had with the Kawasaki, and he expressed his hope that these problems could be fixed quickly.

“I have nothing to lose. One month ago I had one foot outside the World Championship, and now I have a team that is working solely for me. My motivation is this, and to show Kawasaki that they made a mistake in choosing to pull out their factory support.”

In another month’s time, at the season opener at Qatar, we shall see whether Melandri’s hope as justified.

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