MOTOGP » Melandri will race Kawasaki in MotoGP

Well, that certainly is a perfect news!!! I hope Hopper will get a ride as well.

Hmmmm no news about the Hopper.

Good to see Kawasaki back in it, but does this mean it'll be an independant effort. If not will Hopper be on the independant bike and Melandri on the fACTORY??

My interpretation is that Kawasaki will be a one rider factory team. This is bad news for Hopper.

This is really BS. I don't understand why so much was made to save a ride for Malandri. Hopper got screwed (but then again he hasn't been making the best business decisions). As for Melandri I don't know why he even bothered. It couldn't win on a good bike like the Ducati what is expection of a poorly developed, never competative when it was fully developed Kawasaki? At least he can have a legitmate excuse for being at the back of the field.

This doesn't put Dorna in a positive light either as far as being fair to ALL riders!! It puts merit to the theory of them favoring some riders over others

Unbelievable! Full blown soap opera complete with drama queens. So many questions and most with no reason to be asked ... Hopkins career over / Melandri will be lucky to match his 08 results ... career over .. Kawasaki tarnished .. Dorna desperate and embarressed .. Time will tell. Hope the follow up story gives us more.

Glad to see Marco on the grid but the bike probably won't be a flyer,
bummer for Hopper. I'm curious what the team will name itself, any suggestions?

How does this have anything to do with Dorna and how they treat riders? I bet there were talks and Kawasaki decided to go with Melandri. I'd bet the only thing Dorna had to do with it is the threat to sue the pants off of Kawasaki which is what led them to running a 1 man team. That way they still cut costs, and they appease their contract with Dorna so they can quit in 2010 like Carmelo said previously. I HIGHLY doubt Dorna said "you will run this rider".

Wonder what Hopkins is going to do.

Anyway, good news for the series to still have a 4th manufacturer - even if its only for the '09 season.

Well I'm not surprised that they took marco over hopper. Why would you keep some one who gets drunk the night before practice over a do,estic? Man up!!!

If Marco has an ok season on the Kawa they will stay in motoGP that is what Dorna is hopping for.
Marco knows he has to do well in order to stay in MotoGp.So Marco is going to give it all he has...
My guess is that he will be in the middle of the pac witch is not bad considering the circumstances.

could Hoppers exclusion have anything to do with the re-allocation of Monsters MOTOGP funds to the sides of a certain Yamaha riders lid and possibly the Tech3 team?
Fingers crossed Hopper finds something more competitive whatever the category to show he has not run out of talent.