Shinya Nakano

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(alex29 @ Aug 24 2007, 04:03 PM) [snapback]86756[/snapback]<div class='quotemain'>
With Randy de Puniet signing to LCR, Anthony West looked like he had the ride but now there's talk Nakano being consider. Last year Nakano walked out on Kawasaki to ride for Konica Honda. Did he leave Kawasaki on good terms?. Maybe Kawasaki want him back because they know he can help develop the bike. The question is does Nakano deserve the ride?


he didn't walk out on them. if you recall, kawi couldn't get their ... in gear getting the 800 out. nakano waited and waited to test it and finally, he signed with konica.

i've seen a couple posts where people are ripping nakano for leaving which is just ridiculous. not only do riders switch teams all the time, but nakano stayed with kawi for a long time and when they couldn't rollout an 800 in time for him to make an informed decision, he did what he felt was best.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(drumfu @ Aug 24 2007, 04:44 PM) [snapback]86761[/snapback]<div class='quotemain'>
he didn't walk out on them. if you recall, kawi couldn't get their ... in gear getting the 800 out. nakano waited and waited to test it and finally, he signed with konica.

i've seen a couple posts where people are ripping nakano for leaving which is just ridiculous. not only do riders switch teams all the time, but nakano stayed with kawi for a long time and when they couldn't rollout an 800 in time for him to make an informed decision, he did what he felt was best.


That's not how I remember it. I remember him waiting forever to test the 800 b/c Kawasaki was behind the other manufacturers. Kawasaki gave Nakano a timetable and delivered but the schedule wasn't to his liking. He jumped ship angry, panicked and beaming with confidence that Honda would deliver.

Based upon what Nakano did on the Kawasaki he deserves to be back on it the ZXRR with a raise--even if he did leave under a dark cloud. He had some unreal qualifying runs on the Kwak in 2006 so he has the pace on that equipment. Now that Bridgestone are decent he could probably pick up several podiums on the Kwak.

Whether or not Nakano can come back as the development rider is the real question. Hopper won't be much good developing equipment he isn't familiar with. Nakano, on the other hand, should feel at home pretty quickly but will he play second fiddle?

actually, kawasaki did give him (and the general public) dates on when the 800cc machine would be ready, but they failed to deliver. i can't recall if the suzuki or the kawi was the last to finally show, but it was well over a month (and may have actually been monthS) after kawi told nakano he would test the bike. ducati, honda, and yamaha were all already testing the 800s while shinya was standing around with his thumb up his butt because kawi didn't have a bike for him to ride even after they said he would have one.

I posted this in the RDP thread, but I'll stick it here as well, as I think it's relevant.

An interesting thing to note about Shinya...

The squad he left was Harold Eckl's. Mr. Eckl has since been fired after a very public dispute with Kawi. The new Kawi folks could quite possibly get along great with Shinya and think it would be a great idea to have him back. He could feel the same way. It would almost be like going back to a different team.

That's the angle I could see him taking if he made any sort of comeback.

I love the guy and I would like to see him taking the Kawi to the top. He slaved on it for so long, he deserves to be there when it finally comes good!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ThePhorest @ Aug 24 2007, 10:49 PM) [snapback]86786[/snapback]<div class='quotemain'>
I posted this in the RDP thread, but I'll stick it here as well, as I think it's relevant.

An interesting thing to note about Shinya...

The squad he left was Harold Eckl's. Mr. Eckl has since been fired after a very public dispute with Kawi. The new Kawi folks could quite possibly get along great with Shinya and think it would be a great idea to have him back. He could feel the same way. It would almost be like going back to a different team.

That's the angle I could see him taking if he made any sort of comeback.

I love the guy and I would like to see him taking the Kawi to the top. He slaved on it for so long, he deserves to be there when it finally comes good!


Thanks. I have been trying to find an article about the shake up at Kawasaki but couldn't seem to find it. This reminded me of the parties involved.

My short answer is that he does deserve the ride.

jap rider on jap bike on jap rubber with jap management.

i think he will be on a kwak.

plus all the experience he has on it bla bla bla