Tamada stays put in GPs

The Konica Minolta Honda team will again run Makoto Tamada in a one rider team in 2006.

The Japanese rider will face his fourth season in the MotoGP championship, with the first testing taking place at the Sepang test next week.

Fellow countryman Naoki Matsudo has signed to be the test rider for the Kawasaki MotoGP project, following a career spent mostly in the 250cc class. The 32 year old did make his MotoGP class debut in 2005, but riding the Moriwaki machine as a wildcard he failed to complete a single lap at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Matsudo will begin his testing work at Sepang, alongside Kawasaki official riders Shinya Nakano, Randy De Puniet, and possibly Olivier Jacque.

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