In the turbulent times which MotoGP is passing through, the first casualty is truth. Throughout the Kawasaki saga, rumors persisted in the Italian press that any deal which kept Kawasaki bikes on the grid would leave them in the hands of Jorge Martinez, head of the Aspar team.
After Kawasaki announced its official withdrawal from MotoGP, speculation continued that Aspar would get the Kawasaki bikes, despite that deal looking much further from reality. Now, the Dutch website Motorfreaks.nl is reporting that Kawasaki have categorically denied the rumors that Aspar would field the former factory Kawasakis in a private team structure. What's more, Kawasaki say that there will be no Kawasakis at all in MotoGP in 2009.
"As soon as the economic situation improves, we definitely intend to return to the MotoGP arena, but for next season, there will be no Kawasakis in MotoGP. Consequently, there's no truth in the rumors that Martinez would be running our bikes," Kawasaki told Motorfreaks.
As for the fine for breach of contract which Kawasaki will incur by pulling out before their contract ends in 2011, the Akashi factory is still in talks with Dorna. "This won't affect our decision to withdraw from MotoGP, however," Kawasaki said.
Comments
So who is correct?
Why then did Carmelo Ezpeleta state on motogp.com that only the idea of a factory team has been ruled out, leaving the door open for satellite?
"First of all, I would like to clarify the fact that what Kawasaki has suspended is its MotoGP racing activities through its factory team,´ stressed Mr Ezpeleta."
Until the fat lady sings the
Until the fat lady sings the national anthem at the 2009 Season Opener, this ain't over. But saying NO racing and then coming back is extremely unlikely now. Then again, bad translations happen. Kawasaki doesn't have nearly the translator repository in the motorcycle field as the others... Their translators are probably used to making press releases about turbines and heavy machinery, not about subtle "spin."
I used to write press releases for Honda in Japan (for the English speakers in Japan and for Bigwigs visiting English speaking countries--not the largest market, I'll admit) and I was an anomaly--all the other translators were Japanese nationals.
In reply to Until the fat lady sings the by Henway
Wow
That is an interesting perspective that I hadn't considered. Kind of an "inside" voice of a different sort. I guess we'll wait and see.
Privateer Project Under Consideration: Friday, 09 January 2009
Released TODAY!
http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2008/Dorna+CEO+Ezpeleta+on+Kawasaki+withd…
Kwak is probably in under Aspar, but NOT WITH FULL FACTORY SUPPORT.
Following Kawasaki´s announcement, confirming that the Japanese manufacturer would suspend its factory MotoGP activity, Dorna Sports CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta has revealed that a Kawasaki privateer project is under consideration.
Prior to Kawasaki´s announcement regarding their withdrawal from MotoGP, Carmelo Ezpeleta, the CEO of MotoGP Rights Holders Dorna Sports, met with representatives of the Japanese factory to acknowledge their decision and discuss the possibility of having Kawasaki machinery run by a privateer team.
`First of all, I would like to clarify the fact that what Kawasaki has suspended is its MotoGP racing activities through its factory team,´ stressed Mr Ezpeleta.
`We had a meeting in Osaka on Thursday (8th January) where Kawasaki explained their problems and the difficulties they had with continuing as a factory team,´ Mr Ezpeleta continued. `Under these circumstances we agreed to cooperate collectively, in order to find a possible solution to their problems which may allow them to continue as a privateer team.´
Sadly
The corporate site has the rider list down to 17 riders and neither Team Green rider.
:-(