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The extremely well-informed Spanish magazine Motociclismo.es is reporting that Kawasaki's withdrawal from MotoGP has been made official (http://www.motociclismo.es/Deporte/kawasaki-motogp-melandri-hopkins-kawamura-kw-noticia.jsp%3Fid%3D6339). The factory has sent a letter to Dorna and the other factories announcing their withdrawal, and giving some explanation. The full public announcement is expect on Monday, January 5th 2009 (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72588), according to Autosport.com.

More news once it becomes available.

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Well this is some unpleasant news about Team Green. :( They haven't had a bunch of success in any m/c racing series recently, but pulling out completely from MotoGP is still a bit of a shock.

Very disappointing. Did you hear that Subaru pulled out of the world rally also. Bad berrys I say :(

At this rate, there's only going to be 4 racers on the track.

WHAT?!?! Subaru pulled out? NO!!!!

^yea, FIA has screwed over the World Rally Championship year after year now, and Subaru hasn't been doing all that well lately, so it's no surprise. But still a disappointment. I think that two years from now they're going to be switching over entirely to kit cars to try and make it cheaper. WRC was at it's best with burns, mcrae, and sainz still around.
Anyway, that's off topic from bikes. It's sad to see Kawasaki leave moto gp, even though they weren't doing so hot. I guess the green team's race is in the superbikes...

I guess the green team's race is in the superbikes...

Unfortunately they are backmarkers in WSBK, and their US program for next year is up in the air as well. Not a great time for motorcycling racing in general, and for Kawasaki specifically.

oh man, i didn't know about that. I never really followed the superbikes much but I had always thought that they had done well in them, at least in the US circuit. That's really a bummer if they're going to bail on all those programs. Hard times I guess...:rolleyes: