Melandri expects to race in 2009 Marco Melandri admits that Kawasaki’s factory withdraw from MotoGP participation means his hopes of rebounding from an ‘awful’ 2008 campaign have been somewhat hit - but he nonetheless thinks he will race in MotoGP this season, without the support of the Kawasaki factory, and is ready to demonstrate his undimmed desire as he bids to resurrect his faltering career in 2010.
However, with a scant three top ten finishes from 18 outings - and none of them higher than fifth position as he concluded proceedings placed behind both of the semi-works Ducati entries of Toni Elias and Sylvain Guintoli - Melandri’s reputation nose-dived fast, as Stoner conversely ended the campaign 15 spots above him in the riders’ standings and having triumphed on no fewer than six occasions along the way.
“For me, 2008 was an awful season,” the 2004 250cc World Champion confessed. “Nothing went right. For 2009 I took a big risk with Kawasaki, and it’s been such a bad winter for me. Right now it’s such a hard time for the whole world, so I just have to take things day-by-day.
“For the future everything can change so much; many things can happen that nobody expects, and maybe new things will appear too when the economy picks up again. I don’t think that will be very soon, though, so now we can’t think about the future too much…
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