Kawasaki to support John Hopkins

Kawasaki bosses have refused to castigate John Hopkins after the American’s recent damning attack on the performance of the 2008 ZX-RR.

The American slammed a lack of development from factory engineers and demanded drastic improvements in engine performance, as well as insisting Kawasaki increases its manpower in Japan to help speed up progress during a recent outburst after the French MotoGP.

Rocked by Hopkins’ brutal assessment, team boss Michael Bartholemy refused to condemn the 25-year-old, who signed a big-money two-year deal from Suzuki early last season.

“I can understand John’s reaction on our performance,” said Bartholemy.

“We know we have to work and for sure at the moment on mid range engine performance. When John joined us I said to him I need somebody to develop this bike and that we could face many problems and we have to improve the engine.

“We know that and everything is now concentrated on this. We stopped complete development of the Screamer engine for a certain period to focus on the current bike.”

Bartholemy said Hopkins’ critique of the shortcomings with the 2008 ZX-RR had not tainted his relationship with the team, and he said he had expected Hopkins’ to voice his frustrations at some stage.

“We are 100 per cent committed to John and we want to stay with him for as long as possible. We knew we would face difficult times and I have explained to John what we are going to do. 

“What John did was very good. There was no shouting or screaming but we knew what was coming.

It is not like it was a big shock. What is good for us is that John is open and he tells us what he wants. We don’t want a ‘yes’ man, we’ve had this.

“John said sorry at the end of the meeting but he didn’t have to say sorry. At this moment we are learning from each other. More and more we are finding the way with each other,” added Bartholemy.

Hopkins’ demands for instant improvements with the Kawasaki ZX-RR are unlikely to be met, with Bartholemy revealing a heavily revised machine won’t be ready to test until after the Czech Republic MotoGP in Brno in August.

Bartholemy said: “I’m like John and I don’t want to wait until Brno but I told him I can’t go and tune the engine myself. I can only push and request and ask them.

“For me it is important that now at every race we have something new. I am aware it may not be a big step but I want something at every race.”

Kawasaki has also abandoned plans to run a third bike as a wild card in Laguna Seca and Indianapolis to focus on its factory team. That means Chaz Davies’ hopes of a return to MotoGP have been crushed.