Kawasaki Motors Racing

Kawasaki Motors Racing

2008 name	Kawasaki Racing Team
Base	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Principal	Managing Director: Yoshio Kawamura Racing Director: Ichiro Yoda Competition Manager: Michael Bartholemy
Rider(s)	33 Marco Melandri 21 John Hopkins
Motorcycle	Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR
Tyres	Bridgestone
Riders' Championships	-

Kawasaki Motors Racing was the European subsidiary of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and was located in Netherlands. It was responsible for managing the racing activities of the MotoGP team.

The subsidiary was set up in 2007 as a result of the Japanese manufacturer's necessary split from Harald Eckl's organisation, who managed the Kawasaki MotoGP team since 2002. The reason for the split was Eckl’s involvement with a competitor's MotoGP activities, which forced Kawasaki to terminate the relationship immediately.^[1] For the first time since Kawasaki returned to the premier class of motorcycle racing, the team became a complete ‘in house’ factory team.

On January 9, 2009, Kawasaki announced it had decided to "... suspend its MotoGP racing activities from 2009 season onward and reallocate management resources more efficiently". The company stated that it will continue racing activities using mass-produced motorcycles as well as supporting general race oriented consumers.

2007 MotoGP season

The team used the new 800cc Ninja ZX-RR and Bridgestone tyres in 2007. Randy de Puniet and Olivier Jacque were chosen as team riders.

Olivier Jacque crashed in practice during the Chinese Grand Prix, gashing his arm severely enough to be unable to race for 2 Grands Prix. He returned to racing only to crash again during practice at the Catalan Grand Prix, missing this race too. Following the series of injuries, Jacque announced his retirement from competition, but planned to continue as a team test rider.^[2] He was replaced by Australian rider Anthony West.^[3]

The team's best result for the season was a 2nd place finish by Randy de Puniet at a wet Japanese Grand Prix.

2008 MotoGP season

For 2008 John Hopkins joined the team alongside Anthony West. Results were poor though, being regular midfield runners throughout the season.

In August 2008, Kawasaki signed Marco Melandri to join John Hopkins for the 2009 season.^[4] However, the global financial crisis of 2008 caused Kawasaki to reconsider its MotoGP program, and the Italian sports daily Tuttosport reported on December 30 that Kawasaki would be pulling out of MotoGP for 2009.^[5]

2009 MotoGP season

After negotiations with DORNA, Kawasaki provided a scaled down team named Hayate Racing Team for the 2009 season. The team was renamed due to limited factory involvement, with Kawasaki providing only one bike with Marco Melandri as the sole rider.^[6]

The team achieved better than expected results with 6th and 5th placings early in the season. Melandri finished in 2nd place at the French Grand Prix. This result is equal to Kawasaki's best ever result in MotoGP and is their first podium finish since 2007.

MotoGP results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Bike	Tyres	Riders	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Points	Pos.
2002	Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR	D		JPN	SAF	ESP	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GBR	GER	CZE	POR	RIO	PAC	MAL	AUS	VAL			4	13th
			Akira Yanagawa													Ret
			Andrew Pitt														19	17	12
2003	Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR	D		JPN	SAF	ESP	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GBR	GER	CZE	POR	RIO	PAC	MAL	AUS	VAL			15	12th
			Garry McCoy	16	17	18	9	15	17	18	16	16	18	Ret	Ret	Ret	19	13	19
			Andrew Pitt	17	16	15	Ret	16	Ret	14	17	19	16	21	18	16	16	15	18
			Akira Yanagawa	18					Ret
			Alex Hofmann			16		14		10		17	19
2004	Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR	B		SAF	ESP	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	RIO	GER	GBR	CZE	POR	JPN	QAT	MAL	AUS	VAL			134	7th
			Shinya Nakano	12	9	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	9	7	15	12	11	3	Ret	8	12	7
			Alex Hofmann	Ret	13	Ret	14	11	13	11	10	19	13	13	10	9	Ret	13	11
2005	Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR	B		ESP	POR	CHN	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	USA	GBR	GER	CZE	JPN	MAL	QAT	AUS	TUR	VAL		150	6th
			Shinya Nakano	5	8	Ret	8	10	9	8	9	Ret	6	12	Ret	Ret	7	7	10	11
			Alex Hofmann	11				12	17	Ret	12	8	Ret	15	Ret					14
			Olivier Jacque			2	11						Ret			Ret	DNS	16	13
2006	Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR	B		ESP	QAT	TUR	CHN	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GBR	GER	USA	CZE	MAL	AUS	JPN	POR	VAL		129	7th
			Shinya Nakano	7	11	8	8	12	11	DSQ	2	Ret	6	Ret	6	Ret	8	Ret	Ret	7
			Randy de Puniet	Ret	Ret	12	12	Ret	13	Ret	14	12	Ret	12	14	13	11	Ret	10	Ret
			Naoki Matsudo															Ret
2007	Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR	B		QAT	ESP	TUR	CHN	FRA	ITA	CAT	GBR	NED	GER	USA	CZE	SMR	POR	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL	176	7th
			Randy de Puniet	Ret	13	8	8	Ret	Ret	5	6	Ret	Ret	6	8	Ret	Ret	2	6	4	9
			Olivier Jacque	12	18	Ret	DNS		16	DNS
			Fonsi Nieto					11
			Anthony West								11	9	8	7	12	8	12	7	12	15	16
			Roger Lee Hayden											10
			Akira Yanagawa															17
2008	Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR	B		QAT	ESP	POR	CHN	FRA	ITA	CAT	GBR	NED	GER	USA	CZE	SMR	IND	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL	112	9th
			Anthony West	16	13	16	17	14	15	12	10	Ret	10	17	5	13	11	15	12	12	17
			John Hopkins	12	7	5	14	Ret	Ret	10	Ret	DNS			11	14	14	10	13	11	14
			Jamie Hacking											11

References