Ezpeleta still seeking Kawasaki commitment
Added on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Kawasaki's could still be on the grid in 2009.
Dorna boss Carmelo Ezpeleta remains convinced that Kawasaki motorcycles will be on the grid for the 2009 MotoGP championship - and has threatened to take the manufacturer to court if they aren’t.
Even before Kawasaki announced that they had withdrawn factory support for the Kawasaki Racing Team from 2009, talks were underway with Jorge Martinez’s team over a possible rescue plan to keep Kawasaki in the championship whilst current KRT boss Michael Bartholemy also thought to be heading up talks over keeping the ZX-RR in the championship.
Kawasaki had an agreement to provide manufacturer support to MotoGP until 2011 but Ezpeleta is happy to back down over that contract provided that the factory is involved in some capacity in 2009.
“It’s an agreement until 2011 that Dorna has with the manufacturers’ association: in September each of them told us how many bikes they would race with. Kawasaki included,” Ezpeleta told Gazzetta dello Sport.
“There’s no penalty, but an agreement can’t be broken.
“I reaffirmed that I wouldn’t accept the contract being broken. And, since they told us all expenses were covered, I proposed to them to race in 2009. In exchange, I would let them off for 2010 and 2011.
“The problem, they said, is that they have engines only for 25 per cent of the season, and that they didn’t want to develop the rest. So I’ve looked for a structure, in France, able to do this job. The final obstacle is for the Japanese to meet these people and accept their work programme.
“I think everything can be solved. Besides, (test rider) Olivier Jacque is testing in Eastern Creek today. The team will be managed once again by Michael Bartholemy and it’s important to safeguard (Kawasaki’s contracted 2009 riders) John Hopkins and Marco Melandri.
“In any case it’s Kawasaki’s problem: if they don’t race, I’ll take them to court.”
