Saturday, January 10, 2009

Dorna working on private Kawasaki plan

Dorna working on private Kawasaki plan

Dorna boss Carmelo Ezpeleta has confirmed that efforts are underway to place the former factory Kawasakis with a private team for the 2009 season.

The official announcement of Kawasaki's exit from MotoGP came on Friday, but even before the Japanese manufacturer confirmed its intentions it had already emerged that leading 125cc and 250cc team Aspar were in talks to run the bikes this year.

Although Ezpeleta did not mention any specifics, he said Kawasaki had agreed to co-operate with finding a new team to run its bikes.

"We had a meeting in Osaka on Thursday where Kawasaki explained their problems and the difficulties they had with continuing as a factory team," Ezpeleta told the official MotoGP website.

"Under these circumstances we agreed to co-operate collectively, in order to find a possible solution to their problems which may allow them to continue as a privateer team."

There have also been suggestions that Kawasaki racing team boss Michael Bartholemy could be involved in a rescue bid.

Kawasaki riders John Hopkins and Marco Melandri's hopes of finding new seats appear to depend on the outcome of Dorna's talks with private teams, as the existing MotoGP squads have all completed their 2009 line-ups.

Melandri's manager Alberto Vergani said that there had been no progress with his rider's 2009 plans since news of Kawasaki's exit first leaked out.

"We are still at the point of the end of 2008 communication," Vergani told Gazzetta dello Sport. "We don't know what the future holds."



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