Poor Marco Melandri. His image as a good racer was destroyed by an uncompetitive Ducati (at least from his point of view) and when he signed with Kawasaki to race, the factory pulled the rug from under his feet by announcing that it was withdrawing from MotoGP. Threats from Dorna saw Kawasaki give a bike to Melandri under the Hayate name and he produced some good results for a bike that had no developmental activity. He then switched to Honda where he did not find success and finally switched to Yamaha this year in World Superbikes and has been very successful. But yet again the rug has been pulled from under his feet, with Yamaha announcing their withdrawal from World Superbikes next year. Speculation is rife that Melandri could be sought out by Kawasaki in World superbikes because it has Ichiro Yoda still in it and Melandri’s old crew chief Andrea Dosoli could be reunited with the rider and the team that were Hayate in MotoGP. Interesting concept, lets see which way it will head.