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Hacking, a British-born U.S. citizen on Kawasakis AMA Superbike factory team, will make his MotoGP debut at the July 20 race on the Monterey, Calif. track. He will replace Hopkins, who is recovering from surgery to repair injuries suffered in a crash during qualifying for the June 28 Assen race.

Kawasaki arranged for Hacking to test out its Ninja ZX-RR bike at the teams Autopolis circuit in Japan to prepare for Laguna Seca. Hacking set a new lap record during his two days of testing on the Ninja ZX-RR.

Its an amazing machine, says Hacking, 37. I cant 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.

Given his results in this years AMA Superbike championship, Jamie was the obvious choice for Kawasaki when the factory started looking for a temporary replacement for John Hopkins, says Bartholemy. One big advantage that Jamie has is that he knows the track extremely well, and I think that will count in his favor, as it will allow him to focus completely on the bike during the race weekend.

Other racers thought to have been considered to fill in for Hopkins include Chaz Davies, who races for Kawasaki in the AMA Formula Xtreme and Supersport championships, and Hackings Superbike teammate Roger Lee Hayden.

Roger Lee set the benchmark at this race last year with an outstanding tenth place finish, so thats certainly given me something to aim for, says Hacking. Laguna is one of my best tracks, but Im under no illusions how hard its going to be. I'll be up against some of the best riders in the world on a bike on which Ive only had limited testing time. If I come away from the weekend with a top ten finish, then Ill be happy.

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