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I guess that congratulations are in order for Tom Sykes' soggy win in race two at the Nurburgring. I feel that he would not have won if it had not been for the torrential downpour, but he did manage the conditions better than anyone else. A win is a win, as they say. Good to see a Kawasaki on top, but apparently Ma Kaw has decided to fire Paul Bird Motorsports as the factory Kawasaki team for next season. This means that Sykes is likely out as a Ninja rider next year.

A couple of articles on the subject:
www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sportre...-sacked-by-kawasaki/
www.riotengine.in/2011/09/05/tom-sykes-w...es-seat-at-kawasaki/

Interesting to hear DePuniet and Melandri batted around as potential riders for next year. What's old is new again.

Hmmm.... second article indicates things that I don't expect Kawasaki can really overlook about the team management. It's been so long since I've heard Kawasaki won a road race that I can't even remember when the last one came...

I think there are some awesome riders out there but Kawasaki hasn't really been able to capture the magic that the Muzzy teams had.

Yeah, I don't think that Kawasaki can overlook criminal charges. As I understand it, they want Sykes, but he is under contract as a Paul Bird rider, not a Kawasaki team rider. The factory guys are Joan Lascorz and Chris Vermuelen. I bet they can work it out to get Sykes, but I still wish they would buck up and hire a top level rider. From what you hear, Paul Bird runs a messy garage and they aren't really organized enough to be competitive with the big boys. Hopefully the next bunch can make something of the new bike before it becomes the old bike again. It just doesn't look good with all the changes. If this is Kawasaki going all in to be competitive in one race series, then I'm not impressed.

he is 9/10 brilliant...Kawasaki awaits it's Frodo

You're way more in tune with that stuff than I am these days. But once upon a time I lived and breathed road racing. That was back when you could only see bits and pieces on Moto World on the TV

I did see Eddie race in person at Pocono and Wayne as well. Oh....those were some glorious Kawasaki days

What's the deal with Ben Spies these days? A few years back he was a hot ticket

Ben moved to WSBK and won the championship in his rookie season. One and done there. On to MotoGP as a Tech III Yamaha rider for one season. Then on to the factory Yamaha team when Valentio Rossi moved to Ducati. He won a GP race for the first time this season and is a consistent top 5 finisher. I'd say he's well on his way. With a couple of years experience in the big leagues, I would expect him to be competing for multiple wins next season. There is a rule change for next year that will bring 1000cc bikes to GP so I feel that may level the playing field amongst the major players.

BTW I just found this article about Kawasaki's WSBK team. Looks like the big company is going to take a little more control over the happenings. See for yourself: www.motorcycle-usa.com/786/10996/Motorcy...lans-Take-Shape.aspx

cavanaughracing wrote: It's been so long since I've heard Kawasaki won a road race that I can't even remember when the last one came...

Kawasaki have been winning ROAD races in Ireland here regularly, Ryan Farquhar has bee the Irish National Road Race Champion for a good few years now, all done on Kawasaki's.