Hayate boss praises Marco Melandri effort

Hayate MotoGP boss Andrea Dosoli has praised the input of Marco Melandri after the Italian rider’s sensational start to the 2009 MotoGP world championship.

Melandri has been a revelation on the unfancied Hayate machine, which is a rebranded factory Kawasaki ZX-RR, in the first three races of the season.

Sixth in the second race at the Japanese GP at the Twin Ring Motegi, Melandri then produced a stunning display to claim fifth in the Spanish GP at Jerez.

His performances have rejuvenated the Italian’s career, which had been in danger of petering out after a woeful campaign with Ducati’s factory team in 2008.

And Hayate boss Dosoli told MCN that Melandri deserves enormous credit for turning round the fortunes of the Kawasaki ZX-RR, which woefully underperformed during last season.

“We haven’t got much to develop with the restriction on new parts, but we must remember that the rider is the key point of development.

“The rider designs the path to follow and he chooses the direction.

“I believe our package is very good and Marco has injected a lot of proper feedback and information to help us,“ said Dosoli.

Kawasaki’s involvement in the Hayate project is now just limited to servicing and maintenance, with no money now being committed to the development of new parts after the end of March.

That was disappointing to Dosoli given the impact made by the Hayate and Melandri in 2009.

“It is disappointing because this is the best bike they (Kawasaki) have ever built. It looks like the gap to our competitors is a bit less than in the past,“ added Dosoli.