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Kawasaki Privateer Decision to Come Today

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Today is a day of waiting if your a MotoGP fan, particularly a Kawasaki MotoGP fan. With all the drama that has been surrounding the Team in Green, a meeting in Japan may define how the rest of the season shapes up. Michael Bartholemy is in Japan today for talks with Kawasaki about the level of support they can/will provide to a potential privateer team.

Support has become a major issue since Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta revealed that Kawasaki only had enough parts to see out 25% of the 2009 season, and would not be able to handle engine development or maintenance.

This issue was alleviated partially by Bartholemy announcing that he has found a French company, which could handle at least some of that support work for the racing spares. It is speculated that if he can persuade Kawasaki to hand over the entire MotoGP operation to this French company, then there is a possibility that the team could be saved.

Lastly, there is still the issue of Jorge “Aspar” Martinez, and whether he would direct and fund the operation. A have wheeled out the jump to conclusions mat on this topic, saying that he will not be involved in a Kawasaki privateer team, but the only basis for this assertion seems to be Aspar’s statement that he’d want at least one Spanish rider. To us, this issue has not come out as a deal breaker.

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Yamaha to Shutdown Factories for Two Weeks

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Yamaha Motors is announcing that it will be closing down 11 facilities, thus halting production, for two-weeks in order to cut on costs. The shutdown is expected to occur sometime in February or March, and will include lines for Yamaha’s motorcycles, recreational vehicles, atvs, watercraft, and spare parts.

In similar news, Honda has announced that it will be cutting production worldwide and across the board: cars, bikes, generators, you name it.

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Trillium Muir: The Fastest Woman on Two Wheels

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You might remember thatafter she broke multiple landspeed at the International Speed Trials. That fact is no more as Canadian Trillium Muir and team Nickel City Racing have regained the title of the World’s Fastest Woman. Here’s the kicker, Trillium has only be riding motorcycles for 4 years.

Muir, a 28 year-old corrections officer, broke the land speed record by running a ECTA certified top speed of 239.36 mph on her purpose-built Hayabusa. The record breaking run was at Maxton Mile race track in North Carolina, USA. She rode a tuned 2003 Hayabusa featuring a GT35R turbo from RCC turbos, Aims data logger, JE Pistons, Crower rods, MTC lock-up clutch, Elka shock, custom-built swingarm, RCC back cut transmission.

What’s next for the Canadian? The 400kph barrier, which for us Americans works out to be around 248.54 mph.

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Monster Energy Drink to Sponsor Valentino Rossi, Instead of John Hopkins

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With all the back-and-forth going on whether Kawasaki would be in MotoGP or not this season, Monster Energy Drink wasn’t willing to take the season to chance. They have decided to drop John Hopkins from their payroll, and have added Valentino Rossi instead. In a few days we are expecting to hear a formal announcement of the agreement, but the terms have already been leaked. Monster will sponsor Rossi for 2 years, to the tune of 2.5 million euros, plus a bonus of another half a million euros if he wins the Championship.

This news is a devastating blow to John Hopkins who’s ride for 2009 is still up in the air. Monster’s sponsorship of the American rider helped defray the cost a team had to incurr to have Hopper riding with them. Now without the help from Monster, Hopkins is going to have  to take a massive pay-cut, or find a team willing to pay him more than he’s probably worth at this point.

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KTM Ads You Won’t See in the United States

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In our opinion, KTM leads the pack when it comes to TV spot ads. With superb photograph and quick edits, KTM creates ads that are just as edgy as the lines on the RC8, and promotes the hooligan within all of us. Unfortunately the way product liability works in the United States prevents many of these ads from actually airing in the US market. So, we thought we’d bring them to you so you can see how KTM envisions you using their bikes on the street and track. Continue reading for the videos.

 

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Ezpeleta Holds Kawasaki to 2009, But Not 2010 and 2011

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Really, we’re trying to think of a way that the 2009 MotoGP season could become less of a soap opera, but it continues to act like one. Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of Dorna Sports, has shed some more light on the back-and-forth between his organization and Kawasaki.

“I’ve already said that I would not accept the breakdown of Kawasaki’s contract signed with us until 2011. I have proposed that they run in 2009, and in exchange, to allow them to withdraw in 2010 and 2011. They told me that they had an engine for only four or five races of the season. So I looked for a company in France able to help develop the bike. The last obstacle for the Japanese is to meet these people and accept their program.” 

This meeting is scheduled for early next week, and Ezpeleta is pushing for Kawasaki to honor its contract with its riders as well as Dorna, “The team will be led by Michael Bartholemy, and I think it is important to keep the two pilots under contract, John Hopkins and Marco Melandri.” Ezpeleta finished by reiterating that he would take Kawasaki to court if it defaulted on their commitment with Dorna Sports.

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Kawasaki Back Testing for 2009 MotoGP

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Reports are showing that Kawasaki is about to resume its testing, with Olivier Jacque taking laps at Phillip Island on the 2009 ZX-RR. The French rider is at the Eastern Creek circuit near Sydney for a test on the ZX-RR, which was being developed for John Hopkins and Marco Melandri for the 2009 season. Jacque will be testing an all new in-line four-cylinder motor and revised chassis at the Eastern Creek test, starting this Saturday.

After Eastern Creek, the test team will then move down to the Phillip Island for further testing and development. This news and commitment from Kawasaki adds further credence to the reports that we will see them, in some form or another, on the grid during the 2009 season. Kawasaki MotoGP manager, Michael Bartholemy, has been strongly linked with the rescue package, though he has yet to make any official comment on the future plans of Kawasaki and its withdrawal late last year.

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How Much Does it Cost to Race in MotoGP?

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MotoGP is a special animal. Like how Formula 1 is for automobiles, MotoGP is supposed to embody what the cutting edge of technology can bring to the sport of motorcycling. The talent is the pinnacle of its field, and the bikes are rolling R&D platforms.

This also means of course that the costs are exuberant, and instead of an instant applicable payoffs, the value of racing instead comes down the road many years later as the technology trickles down to the production-level bikes.

This makes MotoGP unlike the racing other series, whereas in World Superbike for instance, teams are working with a bike that is actually sold en masse to the consumer, costs for product line development can be absorbed, and the fabled “Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday” marketing buzz phrase has some bearing on reality.

Because of the intangible returns on investments, and escalating environment of prototype racing, it is not surprising to see the semi-departure of Kawasaki for 2009. So how much money are teams really losing by racing at the top of the sport?

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