Quote Originally Posted by neninja
I rate Hopper as one of the top 5 riders on MotoGP. I just hope he doesn't end up having to ride a nail. Kawasaki are the smallest Japanese manufacturer and always seem to lag a couple of years behind in GP bike development.

I'd rather see him stay at Suzuki or get Capirossi's seat at Ducati. (It pains me to say that as I ride a Kwak and would love to see them do well)
Hey what do you ride Neninja? I love the green machines.

I know what you mean about Kawasaki lagging behind in racing development. The ZX10R has always been real fast out of the box as witnessed by their winning Masterbike the last 3 years until this year. Their problem was always developing a decent race kit. I believe they have now set up a European based racing arm, similar to Honda and HRC so hopefully this will bear fruit as it appears to be with the supersport effort.

I really believe that the current ZX-RR is a good race bike without the personell to fully show it's potential. Even Shinya, as good as he is, I don't think he had the absolute racing desperation of someone like Hopkins to really push Kawasaki to be it's best. It looks to me like the new bike steers real well and it has had great top end all year. I hope Kawasaki can follow in Suzuki's footsteps and finally deliver on their promises of competitiveness, so long as they can get the right riders on board as well.