Former Kawasaki MotoGP rider Marco Melandri has cancelled his contract with the Japanese firm and signed on the dotted line for the Hayate project in a one-year deal.

The Italian will ride the Bad Wind this season but being in the blue riband class has meant a big financial sacrifice for Melandri but he reckons it is worth it to be in a team that is working around him alone.

Now, Melandri must concentrate on developing the bike, which will receive no factory updates this season, into the fastest thing he can and says 80 per cent of the problems are around rear tyre grip - a persistent problem with the ZCX-RR

He said that although he wasn't on the pace at Qatar, the bike made a good impression and he knows the team are going to put in a lot of work to get the best from the package come Qatar.