MOTOGP » Kawasaki heads to Phillip Island

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Unregistered - apparently Jacque was doing 1.24's around the creek, which is mighty fast, but its been about 12 years since a GP (500) bike has been there - about 4 sec's quicker than Alex Creville, but there is no benchmark for the time. Bring on the leveller of Phillip Island soon.

Richo
they ran the 800cc bike while the 990 rule was in, probably to try and draw some sponsorship,shame they ran out of money because we never saw the potential of the bike.
what could they give kawasaki,i'd rather see that question answerd than there being no green bikes on the grid this season.

Under MotoGP rules, I don't think they are permitted to practise at PI. I may be wrong. Of course if it is official that Kawasaki have pulled out of the series then I suppose they can go to any track to test their own bikes. But what about the signed on riders? Also if there is a new team appointed are they then permitted to use those bikes that Kawasaki tested at 'official' tracks?

Why Phillip Island tests?

It's summer in Australia - set up and troubleshooting of new bikes on wet, cold northern hemisphere tracks is useless. They are highly unlikely to get rain at Phillip Island from Dec through to Feb. Secondly it's only 6 hours flight from Japan for the engineers, thirdly, hire costs are way cheaper than European tracks (look at Aussie dollar compared to Euro). Finally - Phillip Island is in the middle of nowhere so they are not going to have a media circus following their every move.

Now Illmor. Apart from their ill fated and uncompetitive attempt a couple of years ago, what could a car engine company with no MotoGP experience offer Kawasaki?

certainly good news about ilmore, like they say they have the engineering and the electronic know how to improve the the bike throughout the season.
they would still need sponsorship hope they can get it,how about a fan based sponsorship, i'd donate

It would be nice to see Kawi's on the grid but in terms of really making an impact without significant R&D is highly doubtful. I could be wrong but the Kawi factory never really seemed to put enough effort, personnel or money to make this a better bike. It also seems like they made some poor decisions. In terms of riders I believe that Melandri is better than Hopkins. Yes his confidence is down due to the Ducati mess but he's proved through past performances that he's talented. But I agree that both riders don't appear to be good development riders but then again not many are.

just read on another motorcycle site that illmor are prepared to support and develop the ZX in 09 if kawasaki agree. This is possibly the best option i think that could happen as they have the facility's and skill set and the drive to succeed. It would depend on Kwaky and Money(dorna!!) but if agree'd it could ironicly be the green machines best ye****

Kawasaki has gone the wrong path last season. They started investing too much in the screamer engine while they should've done some development work on the race bike. They started last season pretty well, but the results soon started to drop.

I don't think the rider pairing was too bad, with West a devil in the rain and Hopkins a good overall rider. Saying Hopkins is so so is just ridiculous. He got 4th overall in front of Melandri (on a Honda) and Hayden. 2007 saw the start of the use of 800cc bikes, which needed a lot of development work. Hopkins helped developing that bike, which shows he isn't too bad for the job of development rider.

Raw Dawg,

There is a big different between a rider who used to win than a rider who still finding his/her 1st win. Riders who used to win still can get a podium if the equipment doesn't fit for winning.

Kawasaki become a better prototype after ex-yamaha engine designer joined them. Either 990 or 800, it's not a crap bike when they able to finish in top 5 in a race. Nakano and De puniet has done a good job to show what ZXRR capable to do on a dry race. It show a better rider would be able to put the bike on top of the podium sooner or later.

I think their bike development progress consistently to achieve that goal. If Melandri could give them the 1st win, everything will change...