Jamie Hacking secures Kawasaki ride for Laguna Seca

Kawasaki has confirmed that AMA superbike rider Jamie Hacking will make his MotoGP debut in next weekend’s American GP at Laguna Seca.

The 37-year-old British born rider will replace injured American John Hopkins, who will miss his home race after suffering multiple left leg injuries in a qualifying crash in Assen last month.

A three-time AMA champion, Hacking has racked up six podium finishes already in this year’s ultra-competitive AMA Superbike championship.

And he impressed last week during a two-day test session on the factory ZX-RR machine at Kawasaki’s Autopolis test circuit in Japan.

Hacking’s deal ends hopes that British rider Chaz Davies might get the ride as he was on an initial shortlist of three, including Roger Lee Hayden.

Hayden was likely to have got the ride had he not still been trying to recover from injuries he suffered in a crash at the Barber Motorsports Park back in April.

Hacking was the preferred rider nominated by Kawasaki US and he said: “I’m really excited about riding Kawasaki’s Ninja ZX-RR in the USGP at Laguna Seca.

“We’ve just completed two days of testing with the bike in Japan, and I felt pretty comfortable straight away. It’s an amazing machine. I can’t believe how sophisticated the electronics package is on the bike; already it feels like you can open the gas impossibly early out of the turns, but the data shows that it’s actually possible to open the throttle even earlier.

“To do this requires some confidence in the electronics, and that confidence will only come with more track time on the bike. Roger Lee set the benchmark at this race last year with an outstanding tenth place finish, so that’s certainly given me something to aim for.

“Laguna is one of my best tracks, but I’m under no illusions how hard it’s going to be. I’ll be up against some of the best riders in the world on a bike on which I’ve only had limited testing time. If I come away from the weekend with a top ten finish, then I’ll be happy.”

Kawasaki MotoGP boss Michael Bartholemy added: “Given his results in this year’s AMA Superbike championship, Jamie was the obvious choice for Kawasaki when the factory started looking for a temporary replacement for John Hopkins.

“We are looking forward to seeing what he can do on our bike at Laguna Seca, especially after he broke the lap record at Kawasaki’s Autopolis circuit in Japan during two days of testing on the Ninja ZX-RR this week.

“One big advantage that Jamie has is that he knows the track extremely well, and I think that will count in his favour, as it will allow him to focus completely on the bike during the race weekend.

“Roger Lee (Hayden) set a hard target last year by finishing as the first American across the line in tenth place, but I’m sure that Jamie is heading to the USGP determined to do even better! I’m sure that he will do a good job for us at Laguna.”