KAWASAKI SPONSORSHIP (NOT)

Just spoke to TEAM GRN. and they will no longer be backing any riders except for AMA PRO.They will however still be paying contingency for club race events.I never expected anything but Kaw. does need to get there bikes represented better.Seems like everybody is jumping ship.I wont mention any names,but some went to DUC and SUZ.I guess I will be the only sled on the track?

 

You must not read roadracingworld.com, eh?

 

the lizards got them for another year right JU ?

 

Yeah, that's what Malcolm Wood of Team Green said when I talked to him in December. I think it's posted under December 20 in the news section of the revamped roadracingworld.com site; click on any news item, go to the bottom of it, and click on archives.

[This message has been edited by julrich (edited 01-11-2001).]

[This message has been edited by julrich (edited 01-11-2001).]

 

"Everyone that had existing contracts with Team Green will receive all of the courtesies therein for 2001. However, Team Green will continue with motocross and discontinue support of roadracing in 2002". -as said to me by someone at Kawasaki USA this past Monday.

Bugger for them! All my support comes from Kawasaki UK anyway. And contingencies are still available from Kawasaki for 2001. Hopefully, I'll have won enough in 2001 to buy some other brand that supports roadracing. Thanks a bunch, Team (?) Green...

 

JU, we better be getting our mags this month. How the hell are you getting anything done out there? With all the late breaking news, behind the scenes(I proved you wrong) dyno runs, phone calls, and not to mention posts, you must be one busy SOB.

 

Merde! Issue? Merde! Gotta go...

 

I spoke to kaw. new race director today and MALCOM no longer works there.I left the new guys name at my work but that is what he quoted me.Yes,when I spoke to Malcom about a month ago he was able to support me,but when the weeks went by I decided to call him and that is when I found this information.

 

Malcolm no longer works there? What a surprise. I thought I read that December 20, along with the list of guys he had offered 2001 deals to.

[This message has been edited by julrich (edited 01-12-2001).]

 

Are we a bit cocky, Mr. JU?

 

Maybe frustrated. You bust tail to post a big scoop, and then somebody comes along who didn't read it last month and posts a variation of it now as if it was news, and gets it a little wrong to boot.

[This message has been edited by julrich (edited 01-12-2001).]

[This message has been edited by julrich (edited 01-12-2001).]

 

Who has the boot a little wrong?

 

EXACTLY,I am just quoting what the NEW race director told me a couple of days ago,not three weeks ago by the former director.Maybe he is just blowing smoke to render any sponsorship to me!SUZUKI is looking better by the day!

 

Oooh, Mr. Factory Racer!

Can we expect to see you on TV this year in some WSB races?

 

Well, you all should read Mr. Ulrich's article and then you all may be a bit better informed. WERA 74 needs to read it to understand that not all the same contracted riders that ran Team Green in 2000 got the same deal. Actually, there were some very dramatic cuts in the list of supported riders. We are obviously dissapointed that there will be no Team Green for 2002 and beyond, but what you need to remember is that Kawasaki was really the only company that even offered such a program.

There were essentially 13 riders throughout the country that received either Team Green Assist or Team Green Support. If you take the numbers of racers that run competively throughout the US, the number of racers who got Kawasaki sponsorship is extremely small. It is by no means saying that we and a select few riders are better than anyone else out there, we just had a good resume/proposal and fit a hole where Kawasaki thought it should be.

Just like Suzuki and Yamaha, Kawasaki will continue to have contingencies. The Kawasaki 600 and 900 are very competitive and worthy of racing. Of course, it is hard to argue against the number of Suzuki and Yamaha pilots. We would hope that just because Team Green Road Race is gone, that racers not jump ship. Yes, there are very few racers running Kawasakis and that in of itself may have led to the downfall of the program.

We were very fortunate to stay on the Team Green Support list along with a few other teams, but we hope that you all out there do not feel as if we are not worthy. Sure, we are not as fast as Lee, Opie, or Mark, but we try to do our best, we feel our stuff is very well presented and considering that we are by far the poorest MWSB team out there (we wish we could hire a rider), we do pretty damn good. Plus, if you ever stop by, I think that we have the most fun. We always try to make this whole racing experience a fun deal. However, when the shield goes down, we try the best we can.

All you racers out there on Kawasakis - keep racing the green machines and maybe we can get Kawasaki to bring back the program.

 

YAH,I will still be out there doing my best on my 2000 ZX9.A combination of spints and HWSB events threw out the year,hopefully to promote KAW. in a good way!Good luck to your team as well!

 

Product support, my colleague in crashing...!

 

Kawasaki very popular here. They have big factory here, domestic production. But not Team Green. No green model popular here. Red popular. White popular. Not green.

Buck

 

John's just figured out that if it doesn't happen on the BBS, it hasn't happened at all.

Idea: Just start posting the articles here. It'll save us the time of having to click to another URL.