Following on the (thankfully incorrect) rumour that Honda was about to quit MotoGp, comes an even more credible one that seems to have every chance of being confirmed in just a couple of days. Yesterday the influential online journals reported that Kawasaki has pulled the plug on its MotoGp effort, effective immediately and that its riders, John Hopkins and Marco Melandri are in possession of letters from the factory telling them that their services will not be required in 2009. Some Christmas present, eh?
Now it IS only rumour, but what IS known is that the Big K is set to make a major announcement on the 5th of January and that this news is a controlled leak from the factory to help soften the blow of what is a major strike at the viability of MotoGp as a class.
Should it be proven to be true, it will reduce the number of bikes on the grid to just 17, barely enough to sustain the class. The FIM decree is that 15 is the minimum, and, as you read on, you will see that this is in danger of coming to pass.
Hot on the heels of this news is the news that the Alice Ducati team has been informed that its major sponsor is pulling out. The team has announced that it will, as a consequence, be reducing the effort to a 1 bike team, retaining the Finn, Mika Kallio. All is not lost for Nicola Canepa, however, as he looks set to be drafted across to the Onde team to partner Sete Gibernau making that a 2 bike team. Money is no object to the Nieto brothers!
Where this leaves everyone else is anyone’s guess, but, with Suzuki still having difficulty getting its major sponsors to commit to supporting for 2009, the blue team is looking very parlous as well.
The global economic crisis is really starting to bite.
PS: This morning news that Jorge Martinez is hoping to somehow rescue the Kaswasaki outfit. Remember that he was negotiatin the “third bike” deal a little while ago. Evidently he doesn’t have budgetary constraints either.
PPS: To give you some idea of the costs involved in MotoGp, it is estimated that Kawasaki could race an entire half-season of WSBK—with a well run team—solely on John Hopkins’ MotoGP salary.