"I almost get depressed always hearing from what I read and on T.V. about how slow, old, and tired our bike is," says Kawaski team manager Mike Preston. "It might be old, but how the heck are we still winning races and almost winning the Championship last year?"

Preston's tongue-in-cheek response to questions about the competitiveness of the ZX-7R prove a point -- put a fast man on a solid machine and good things happen. And just as Kawasaki won last year's 600 title after finishing second the previous year, Preston expects Bostrom to contend for the Superbike title, especially since Eric will forego his 600 Supersport title defense.

"I think Eric just riding in Superbike will help," says Preston. "If you look at last year and the races he won at Loudon and Laguna, you'll see that he didn't just finish a 600 race and hop on the Superbike."

Replacing Bostrom on the 600 is Tommy Hayden, a rider Kawasaki strongly considered when Bostrom was eventually hired in 1999. "We don't expect to miss a beat with Tommy on the 600. We think he has a lot of potential and out job is to bring it out."

Tony Meiring is the new man on the team, but won't attend the Daytona test. Preston felt that Daytona wouldn't be the best place for Meiring to make his Kawasaki debut. Another factor influencing Preston's choice was that Kawasaki hadn't yet hired a mechanic for "Tony the Tiger".

There are several internal changes within the team. Gary Medley, Chandler's former crewchief, will build engines for all three riders and his vast roadracing knowledge will be available for all of them at the track. Medley moves up into an oversight role for a team with not only young riders but young mechanics. Joey Lombardo will be the crewchief for Tommy Hayden and Matt Warbus will be Bostrom's Superbike crewchief. "We want Gary to be more accessible for everyone, not just one rider on the team," Preston says.

With the youth movement in effect at Kawasaki, Doug Chandler's contract was not renewed. "Doug was like a rock for us. He always did what we asked and gave the team a lot of credibility, but unfortunately with the way the team was restructured we didn't have a place for him," Preston says. "We'll miss him."