Marco Melandri signs 1 year contract with Hayate

We can call it cut and wrap, the Kawasaki/Dorna/Hayate/Melandri soap opera that started at the end of December is over and Carmelo Ezpeleta can finally stop biting his nails because Marco Melandri has finally and officially confirmed that he has signed a one year deal with the new Hayate Racing Team to ride the Ninja ZX-RR for 2009.

Here’s what Marco had to say:“The contract with Kawasaki has been cancelled.

I had to make a big financial sacrifice, but the most important thing that I wanted was to find trust,” said Melandri.
“I have nothing to lose.
One month ago I had one foot outside the World Championship, and now I have a team that is working solely for me.
My motivation is this, and to show Kawasaki that they made a mistake in choosing to pull out their factory support.

”“We weren’t fast in Qatar; that’s a fact.
The bike did make a good impression on me though.
I don’t know how much it will be possible to improve it before the start of the season, but the team have assured me that they will be making a big effort until the end of March,” the former World Championship runner-up continued.

“I’ve heard about not getting any factory support, but I believe in the work that has been done up to now.
If the bike improves then I think that I can keep up.
Obviously if I’m coming in last every Sunday then it will be hard to deal with, but I don’t want to think so far into the future.