Pit Pass - Monster Kawasaki's Jamie Hacking - Rejuvination?

The mission was to give Kawasaki "valuable information, finish the race and get a good result. In my eyes, I feel like I fulfilled everything they wanted me to do. They seem like they are super happy with what we did. I tested some parts for them, chassis and stuff like that. That's pretty impressive that the first weekend on the bike I'm testing parts for them and stuff. Big respect for that and it was great. I feel like we made improvements with the bike every time we got on it. I think with some more valuable time on it we could make it even better. That's the whole key goal. I think they are struggling right now with making some improvements on the bike."

The end of the MotoGP race wasn't the end of his day. An hour later, Hacking had to ride in the AMA Superbike event.

"The entire race, I never really came to grips with the Superbike," he said. "The grip level is totally different. Our electronics package is different. Obviously our chassis on the Superbike is nowhere near as stiff as GP. And then after falling off the bike Friday, from just being a little bit too aggressive with it, it was make a mistake and lose a few points.

"I couldn't bring it out in me to pick up the pace. As far as muscle fatigue, I was a little worn out, but cardio-wise I was there. I just couldn't pick the pace up. I never really got a breather. It was a shame to give up my third place spot," to Jordan Suzuki's Aaron Yates. "At the end of the day the main goal was to secure third place in the championship and that's what we did."

As he was leaving the team dinner on Sunday night, Hacking ran into Kawasaki's MotoGP boss Ichiro Yoda. "He said, 'I'll see you in Brno.' I agreed with him and told him he'd have to get with [Monster Kawasaki team manager Mike] Preston and make some things happen.'" Unfortunately the Brno MotoGP round was the same weekend as the Virginia International Raceway round of the AMA Superbike Championship, and Hacking needed to maintain his third place in the championship, so the idea was scuttled.

"I'm thinking I might as well just shoot and break a record and be the oldest guy to sign a GP contract," Hacking said. "Nobody ever told Lance Armstrong he can't enter back in the Tour de France. I'm sure if he got back into shape at 37 years old he could probably go back and win it. At this point age doesn't really matter, even though age does really matter in GP. Matter of fact is that these guys need some development on the bike and some decent results and they know I'm capable of doing it with just some extra time on the bike.

"That's all I'm looking at. If I could do it for next two or three years, if I got the opportunity to do it, I'd be a fool not to jump on it. I think it's something if it does arise and I get the chance to do it I'm going to do it. Who knows? You never know.