Legendary two-stroke engineer Jan Witteween has been sacked from Matt Hoyle's Haojue MotoGP 125cc team because the bikes are neither powerful or reliable, leading the squad to miss last weekend's Mugell round.
A statement from the team reads:
Jan Witteveen was contracted to deliver a state-of-the-art, race competitive 125cc GP engine and continue its development over a three year period.
However, after 18 months of development it is clear from the engine's lack of performance in the early 2009 GP events, where the Haojue riders have either failed to qualify or sometimes crashed due to engine failure, that the engine is neither race competitive nor reliable.
As well as the continued lack of performance and the reliability problems which make the machine potentially dangerous for the Team Haojue riders and other riders on the track at the same time, the Haojue team management has been deeply concerned by the lack of progress and communication from Witteveen on plans to overcome the problems.
