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Friday, 7th September 2007

The Kawasaki Racing Team has all but ruled out the possibility of a third ZX-RR being on the MotoGP grid for the full 2008 season.

Earlier this year, Team Green revealed that it was considering expanding its factory MotoGP operation.

"Maybe this will be the start of us using wild-card riders more in the future or, possibly, running a third bike full time in the championship next year," revealed competition manager Michael Bartholemy, upon confirming Roger Lee Hayden's USGP wild-card ride.

However, it now looks like new-signing John Hopkins and the retained Anthony West will be Kawasaki's only full-time MotoGP riders.

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"We had looked at running a third Kawasaki in 2008, but it now looks unlikely that we will do so," communications manager Ian Wheeler told >Crash.net. "Instead, we will commit our available resources to supporting our two riders for next season, John Hopkins and Anthony West, while also continuing the development of the Ninja ZX-RR with our test and development rider, Olivier Jacque."

Suzuki is also considering a third machine, run by a satellite team, however this too looks unlikely to happen in 2008.

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