Pedrosa not in talks with Kawasaki so far

Pedrosa has yet to sign a new contract with the Repsol Honda team for 2008, while Kawasaki have not yet confirmed who will ride for them alongside John Hopkins next year.

The team said on Sunday that the battle for the final seat is between current riders Randy de Puniet and Ant west.

However, autosport.com understands that former Kawasaki rider Shinya Nakano could also be a candidate for the seat, as he left the team last year under good terms.

Furthermore, should Pedrosa decide to negotiate with Kawasaki, he will have to do so within the next few days, as the Japanese squad are planned to make their second rider choice at Misano next weekend.

At the moment, West appears to have more support owing to the fact that he scored 33 points in just five races - and after a single day of testing on a MotoGP bike in Catalunya in June.

This, compared to de Puniet's eight points at this point in the season last year.