Melandri Podium Boosts Hayate Racing

No doubt about it, despite Jorge Lorenzo's incredible performance in France, the highlight of the Le Mans MotoGP weekend was Marco Melandri taking second place at the chequered flag. The Hayate Racing driver, believed to benefit from the poorest technical package for 2009, took his Kawasaki all the way to the podium, ahead of title contender Dani Pedrosa (Honda).

Melandri therefore scored the first podium for Kawasaki since the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix – where French rider Randy de Puniet finished runner-up. However, considering this year's success was recorded after a tumultuous winter for the Japanese manufacturer – as they announced MotoGP quit and eventually agreed to sell one of their Ninja ZX-RRs to Hayate Racing – the Italian's performance seems way too valuable.

“It was a fantastic result. Marco was fast in the wet and the dry. We were not 100% sure about the wet setting, but I guess it was like that for everybody because we had no data to work on. Marco made a good start and kept up a good pace in the wet,” said and enthused Andrea Dosoli, crew chief for the Hayate Racing team.

Dosoli also admitted Meladri's incredible results at Le Mans, even in difficult weather conditions, has boosted the morale of the Hayate mechanics, who will not try to up their game race after race, aiming for a Top 8 performance (team's aim for 2009)

“The motivation in the team is high. Everybody wants to get good results and at the moment that is happening so we are quite happy. This podium result is like a dream but we have to be realistic and we believe that our potential is top eight,” added Dosoli.