Kawasaki set to run third bike in 2009

Rumours about an expanded Kawasaki line-up have been rife all season, and team boss Michael Bartholemy said that the final green light had been given after a meeting with the company's hierarchy in Japan last week.

"There were many, many discussions in the last month, and many ups and downs, and yes and no," he told the official MotoGP website.

"We had a big meeting with our president in Motegi, and we said we would give him our decision in the next ten days after Motegi."

Bartholemy said he was now confident that Kawasaki were capable of supporting a third bike alongside their two existing factory Ninjas, although outside funding still had to be finalised.

"From our side, now it's clear that we are able to supply a third bike to the championship," he said.

"We have the resources to make it, we can put a team together, we have the engineers and all the necessary things.

"Now we have to find the money to run it, and also we now have to find a rider to ride it, so these will be the next steps for the next days. We want to have meetings with the people who are at the moment able to pay for a project like this."

Although Bartholemy would not be drawn on the likely identity of the third bike's rider, he said he had a strong candidate lined up.

"We have one rider in mind who could help this project to develop, because they can help bring all the bikes up to a better level next year than they were this year," he said.

"But this is something that we will have to see during the next days, how we can set it up together. My idea is clear, but I don't want to say now that it is fixed because we have to also discuss it with the person that will put the money into this bike.

"So we cannot dictate everything. But we will try to convince them that this is the right direction to go in."

Speculation earlier in the season had linked top 125cc and 250cc squad Aspar to the third Kawasaki as part of a Spanish-funded project with a Spanish rider, but reports this week have indicated that Shinya Nakano could now be in line for a return to Kawasaki after two years away.

The Japanese rider will be replaced at Gresini Honda by Toni Elias, another man linked to Kawasaki during the summer, and had been thought likely to step down to testing duties for Honda.

Kawasaki have run John Hopkins and Anthony West on their factory bikes this season, but have already announced that the latter will be replaced by Marco Melandri next year.

The team have struggled throughout 2008, with two fifth places their best results so far.