In a sea of local riders, during his first trip to Twin-Ring Motegi, American Eric Bostrom finished 10th on his Kawasaki, just one place behind the Japanese Kawasaki rider Hitoyasu Izutsu. You may recall that Izutsu smoked all of the WSB riders at Sugo earlier this year, winning both races.
Yamaha’s Noriyuki Haga finished third in the race.
It is believed that the Kawasaki factory bosses in Japan were taking a close look at Eric Bostrom, with an eye towards grooming him for a four-stroke GP ride in 2002. Kawasaki, which has been absent from the GP scene for some time, is itching to contest the GP championship under the new four-stroke rules. It is possible that Eric Bostrom is also in Japan to test a Kawasaki prototype. After all, it was an expensive trip for a single race (Kawasaki also flew Bostrom’s mechanic, Al Ludington, to Japan).
MD has a special interest in the developement of the GP four-stroke prototypes, and we will try to update you each time we hear something of interest.
