Kawasaki, PSG-1 part ways.

It'll be interesting to see if another team can make the ZX10 work where others have failed. Seems odd that the bike has been that bad for that long!

So, Paul Byrd Motorsport let's Lavilla go, hmm, Top (12th) Satellite rider in '08 & his 135 points top Laconi 55, Tamada 46 and
Badovini 24 cumulative total of 125. Badovini
made 2 more Superpoles than Tamada 5 to 3. The young
Italian imo showed improvement as the season progressd
and deserves an RS08/9 Ducati. Kawasaki's MOtoGP
results certainly took a dive since they took that team
'in house' Jamie Hacking's rider talent must be more
than some think as he took the ZX-10R to 3rd in AMA
SuperBike

But AMA is weak, Ben Spies and Matt Mladin are undoubtedly serious talents and would both be up there on the world stage, but look how far they finish in front of the rest of the pack. Hacking is the best of the rest.

The AMA isn't that weak - the Suzukis where just that much faster with the fastest riders. They are probably the fastest Superbikes on the planet. Hacking rode the wheels off the Kwak. Still not that great of a bike though.

And to point out that AMA isn't that weak, Josh Hayes had a blazing race in WSS this weekend and he can't even get a sniff of a factory ride in AMA - a real shame indeed.

i agree ama is not weak, just has a very uneven motorcyle grid, with yosi suzis the best suzukis on the planet. suzuki take maladin to sepang and philip island every year to develop that motorcycle, and he regualrly beats the wsbk lap record(on dunlops though)while there.
mr hodgson(aka former world sbk champ is hardly weak opposition)james ellison struggled to get into the top 10 every week(albeit on a lesser honda) yet is tipped to be british champ by some next year.

My point is the two at the front are so far infront of the rest it's no competition, whether thats the bikes or the riders doesn't matter really. Hacking has rode that Kwak hard and as such he's the best of the rest. I would put Hodgson, DuHamel, Zemke in the mid pack to rear in WSB and BSB. Too much money in AMA for the top guys and nothing for the lower ranks.

The two riders starting for Kawasaki in the 2009 WSB championship will not be the same two finishing for Kawasaki if Paul Bird has owt to do with it, he'll either end up sacking both riders by round 7, or he'll walk away from Kawasaki claiming poor factory support.

Paul Bird has a lot of toys in his pram, watch how far he can throw them in 2009

Well, this thread has taken an a sideways turn - Hey Yosh as a team have been together for 10+ years. Mladin likes being a Big fish in across the pond. Spies got screwed by Suzuki keeping Capirossi. Suzuki tossing the '07 team after Hopper & Vermullen went 4th/5th in the season and brought on Paul Denning & team was a big step backwards The '08 GSVR wasn't that good in the wet,

Hayes said the WSS Spec. Parkalgar HOnda was like his AMA Formula Extreme machine with Superstock suspension, he is a two time Form. X AMA champ. So, on the all-new Portimao track - an even playing field he was just off Podium.

But Kawasaki has to figure out how to make the SB&MotoGP handl.

Good to see Tamada has another shot at Superbikes but he will need to repeat his form from misano/assen this year to get another year in it. He was a real talent but he is one of those riders affected by outside influence too much. As the 08 season went on other bikes developed and the kwaka not so much. This was apparent in the pratice sessions as Tamada spent too much time in the pits looking for 'THE' set-up rather than riding the bike and trying to adapt to it. I wish him luck which he will need if Paul bird is his new boss.

Wonder where laconi goes too?

Poul Bird will chose Kawasaki cooperation? it sounds good I think, for greens? I wonder who will be Tamada's teammate.

I wondered if Tamada will tell Bird to flock off at some stage....

What a waste of time! Kawasaki should pull the plug on all racing as they make no effort at all, to hire Broc Parkes in my opinion would also be a retrograde move, there are plenty of other riders around who have more desire to win than Broc!

Broc is a good rider and a tryer. Foret is a former champion and Broc has put him in the shade this year. West made Broc look ordinary when he filled in for Curtain last year though, West should have that seat ahead of Parkes then Kawasaki would have two vastly experienced former Kwak GP pilots to guide development.

IMO the ZX10R is a better bike than its been made to look by PSG 1. Beating the Yamahas and Hondas in AMA not solely down to the rider or Hacking would be a GP world champ by now!

Broc Parkes has had good bikes for a number of year's now, I am not saying he is not a good rider but he seems to lack that killer instinct that makes a good rider great, damo you said it all when you said West made him look ordinary! West would be a fool to have anything to do with Kawasaki after his experiences in moto gp this year! I am not saying the ZX10 is a bad bike but if you look at what Kawasaki have achieved in all forms of road racing over the last 4 years you could not help but question how much comitment they have, as a company (Kawasaki heavy industries) they are not lacking money just the will and passion to win!

Has anyone thought about the chance of Chas Davies coming to Paul Bird. He HAS done well in the States and on Kawasaki !

An after thought Ryan Farquar is EXCELENT on the ZX10 over in Ireland

Parkes and Tamada is a done deal. The was another rumour that Birdy was getting the Gil SS600 Kawas as well. I havent heard if Fujiwara is on a 2 year deal and thereis a vacant seat as Chris Martin was only guesting on the other bike.
However things seem to have settled down a bit in the USA so Davies may as well stick it out over there....

If you look again at the riders this year, that is also a large part of why Kwac never do anything, does anybody seriously think Broc or MT will be top 6-10 on a regular basis?, you need more than a good bike in WSBK you need top riders too... Kwack are moving back in the right direction in MOtogp, MM will surprise next year, but they might as well write WSBK off with those two, not saying they're bad but they're not top 6... Come on Kawasaki....!!!

Get Rob Muzzy on the case!

mike hunt, a new team made up of Fujiwara and Lascorz will run Kawasaki in the Supersports next year. Not sure if it means PBM won't expand to run Kwak's in WSS too, but the factory team will be called Provec Motocard.com and take over from Gil.