kawasaki beyond 2008

Hello again!

Now that John Hopkins will ride for kawasaki ¿Do you think he can do better than he got in 2007 season' final standings?.

"Green team" manager is optimistic about season coming and beyond
cheers

http://www.crash.net/motorsport/motogp/new...title_attack.ht

If everything goes well with Hopper this season, I think they will resign him and they will probably convince a title sponsor to ante up.

The bike is very capable. I'm not sure if it was the riders, or the team, or bad luck, or tires, or what; but the bike has underperformed for several seasons now.

I think Hopper will probably finish 6th next season. I hope its higher, he is too good a rider, and that bike is too good a performer to continue to net poor results. I'm pretty sure that Melandri, Hayden, or Verme will probably cost him a couple of championship positions in 2008.

The bike defo has the acceleration and top speed. Some electro work and a little chassis design should see Kawi scoring podiums pretty regularly.

I think they have done well signing Hopper and if they can even slightly improve relative to the competition then I see John holding position at around 4 again next season with more podiums. I'm not sure the bike will be ready to win but West is capable in the wet.

Interestingly, RDP is the highest scoring Kawasaki rider in team history with 108 pts in one season. Nakano was the most successful championship contender scoring a 10th in 2005.

I can't imagine Hopper won't collect over 108 pts. He should be the most successful Kawasaki rider to date, barring any unforeseen disasters.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mylexicon @ Jan 3 2008, 10:18 AM) [snapback]105686[/snapback]<div class='quotemain'>
Interestingly, RDP is the highest scoring Kawasaki rider in team history with 108 pts in one season. Nakano was the most successful championship contender scoring a 10th in 2005.

I can't imagine Hopper won't collect over 108 pts. He should be the most successful Kawasaki rider to date, barring any unforeseen disasters.


Rather easily I would think.

Kawasaki have been crying out for a better rider but Hopper is not that much better.... whens he gonna break his duck?

Maybe he is a great rider, i like his wheelies very controlled and he shows some skill on the bike but hes switching from a nearly team to another.

Repsol Honda ride i would like to see what he could do.

Funny reading this article now after the improvements made by yamaha and the soon to be new engines for the hondas. If kawasaki don't start making some big improvements they're going to be languishing at the back for many a season.