Melandri To Race In One-Man Kawasaki Team

The statement said the new team will be equipped with Kawasaki motorcycles and supporting materials, but it did not say who will run it.

Italy's Marco Melandri will race in a new one-man MotoGP team this season after Kawasaki said it had reached an agreement with the sport's commercial rights holders Dorna.

The Japanese manufacturer announced it was pulling out of MotoGP in January because of the global economic crisis, but Madrid-based company Dorna threatened to sue as Kawasaki's contract runs through 2011.

"Kawasaki announces that after constructive talks between Kawasaki, Dorna and other involved parties, a new one-rider team will participate in the 2009 MotoGP championship season," said a statement on Kawasaki's website (www.kawasaki-racingteam.eu).

"(The) rider for the new MotoGP team will be the Italian Marco Melandri."

The statement said the new team will be equipped with Kawasaki motorcycles and supporting materials, but it did not say who will run it.

Melandri, who had switched from Ducati to Kawasaki at the end of the 2008 season, said earlier this month he was working with Dorna and former team manager Michael Bartholemy on a project for a "private bike".

American John Hopkins, who would have been Melandri's fellow rider at the factory team this season, now looks set to remain without a MotoGP ride in 2009.