MOTOGP » Kawasaki sends West to Japan

Lets face it, MotoGP was dismal last year. There's a small improvement this year with the likes of Toseland and Lorenzo arriving but the gap between teams is ever growing. Theres lots of riders not performing, take a look at Hayden, DePuniet, West, Vermulen, Melandri. What ever possessed Hopkins to go to Kawasaki? he was just starting to gel with Rizla Suzuki. Lorenzo could have been a serious title threat had he not been injured in China. Personally I would welcome back the likes of Sete Gibernau whether it be on Ducati or Kawasaki, maybe we'll see another face near the front instead of the usual suspects! It will also be a shame to lose Edwards back to WSB if he goes.

Laterrus - I'm no racer but from my experience road-riding in wet conditions I would say it's a physcological thing - how much confidence you have in the front-end. Some riders who are slow in the wet say when they approach a corner they look at the wet road and it scares them because they assume there is no grip when there actually is. As a result they have slow entry speed, carry less speed through the corner and as you can't gas it hard out of a wet corner without sliding they lose the drive. Perhaps Westy just has more confidence and carries a higher entry and mid-corner speed which will give him better drive onto the straight without having to gas it hard, hence less sliding.

I have a question that I'm hoping you guys can help me with. West always says that, the rear spins and spins when he comes out of turns during dry races thus, not giving him the traction he needs. My question is, how come he seems to do so well in wet weather if traction is his main problem? I mean, I'm sure that the crew can adjust the traction control settings for the wet races but, wouldn't the bike still slide all over the place if he gives it too much throttle? I'm just guessing here but, maybe the reason why he does so well in the rain is because, he's already used to all the sliding due to his dry race experiences? LOL! I hope they get things worked out for him.

Sorry Kiruns, Sete Gibernau was dropped at the end of the 2006 season. That was the end of the 990's era. Casey gets his job in 2007 and the rest is history. Sete finished in th etop 5 only 5 times in 2006: 4th Qatar: 5th Mugello: 5th Sepang: 4th Australia and 4th in Japan. Maybe he knew Casey was getting his job 'cause he crashed with him in Portugal - the second last round!!

why don't they keep him in japan till he makes competitive lap times.
even if it takes five years

I say give Westy's bike to Randy Mamola.

Sete Gibernau not that bad.....remember when the change from 900cc to 800cc era, he often set the fastest time testing the Ducati 800 cc....even from his team mate......
Maybe he also make big contribution for the development of the ducati 800 we know now....
Just give him a chance to make Motogp a lot more fun to watch
and please make Rossi life harder.....

cont'd
could be shrunk down to size without losing any of what was working WRONG WRONG WRONG they should have done like all the other teams and started from scratch because the characteristics are different etc OJ was getting a paycheck that is all it was to him? Because by now their should have been some improvements.. Now the RACER is going to do what he can do for his bike and take that back to Hopper and go from there we will seee

I think West going to Japan to work directly with the engineers says allot about him and his ability, Although his results don't reflect it. Surely we will see what he is made of some are able to translate the information to their tech's directly and some can translate it through the chain of command. I cannot believe that riding these types of bike from 250 on up or sbk 600 which are trick as your money can buy would leave any racer dumb founded as too how it should be set up....For the individual racer. It is strange because last year he did well after kai did finally get the bike up to scratch and since they have changed to the 800 it has gone down hill.maybe they thought that the 990

I hope so Belly