HOPKINS BATTLES FOR TOP SIX IN LAGUNA THRILLER
11 July 2005 - Suzuki Racing

John Hopkins raced his Red Bull Suzuki to a hard-earned eighth place at today''s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix from Laguna Seca Raceway in California, narrowly missing out on a top-six place by less than a second.

Hopkins thrilled the crowd with a race long battle between himself and the Hondas of Troy Bayliss and Makoto Tamada. The aggressive riding style of the young Anglo-American star made sure that he finished the event as the top Bridgestone rider, treating the American fans to some rear tyre smoking action as he chased down the front runners.

Kenny Roberts Jr made up some places early on in the race and was up in the top 10 by the end of lap one. The ex-World Champion finished the race in a points scoring 14th place. This was Roberts Jr''s first race in America since winning the World Championship in 2000, and the partisan crowd certainly showed him plenty of support.

In brilliant sunshine and warm temperatures, a record breaking sell-out crowd of 57,932 saw American riders Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards take the first two places respectively. World Champion and current Championship leader Valentino Rossi was third.

Red Bull Suzuki was joined at Laguna this weekend by Mr Tak Hayasaki, Group Leader of the Motorcycle Planning Department for Suzuki Motor Corporation. He was able to witness firsthand the highly competitive nature of MotoGP and the awesome Suzuki GSV-R in action.

Team SUZUKI MotoGP will now return to Europe for round nine of the MotoGP World Championship at Donington Park in England on Sunday 24th July.

John Hopkins:

''I''m disappointed, it''s definitely not where we wanted to finish. I got passed by a few in the beginning and it''s so hard to make the passes back. I ended up having to stick where I was, I tried for the longest time to get past Bayliss and it just didn''t come along.

''With the higher temperatures we had to use a harder tyre that we hadn''t really got on with all weekend and I didn''t feel too comfortable on it. I wanted to put on a good show for the fans and I''m sure I did as I was sliding around a lot all race. It''s good to see American riders one and two at their home GP, I just wish it was me.''

Kenny Roberts Jr:

''We couldn''t put on a competitive performance whatsoever here and I feel bad for family, friends and fans that had come to watch. On the other hand this is what racing is about if you''re not competitive it looks real bad and at the moment I''m struggling. We will keep trying, I have a strong team and hopefully we can figure out what''s going on with the package and get back to where we want to be.''

Tak Hayasaki - Group Leader Motorcycle Planning Department:

''This is the first time I have been to a MotoGP and was very impressed by how well the team works. It has great organisation and operation and the teamwork is very good, but the competition is very tough here. I realise that we need to get better but the time is so quick and we will have to do everything we can to get a better result.

''This visit is going to be a great asset for me. I have been very impressed with the promotion of the team and the support from Red Bull, but we are definitely looking for better results and I think step by step it''s not easy at all. I think we can do it, we will try 100%.''

Paul Denning - Team Manager:

''It looked like a frantic and hard race for all the top guys at the USGP. Starting from the second row, John stuck his Red Bull Suzuki right into the thick of the action in the early laps and hung in with the front running group. He got involved in a race-long battle with the Hondas of Bayliss and Tamada and it''s a testament to the way he is improving as a rider that he hung in there and didn''t make a mistake all race.

''We are still searching for a bit more torque and more grip. Bridgestone assisted us with the right choice of race tyre which stayed consistent to the end of the race, but maybe didn''t have the extra grip that John needed to stay in the mid-24s, which he was capable of doing in the shorter runs during the practice sessions. I''m sure Bridgestone will take the lessons learned from here and keep improving as we keep improving. The Suzuki GSV-R performed well here at Laguna and ran all weekend without missing a beat.

''The next race at Donington in two weeks time is another home GP for John, and I''m sure there are a lot of positives to take from this race to get a great result there. He is disappointed, but should be proud of himself today.

''Kenny will be disappointed to finish in 14th position at his home GP. He was inside the top 10 early on and I''m sure he would have liked to have put on a good show for the fans, but it was not to be. He has also gone well at Donington in the past so let''s move onto there and see what we can do.

''I''d like to thank Red Bull for partnering us at the Red Bull USGP. We gave it 100%, the bike looked awesome and we''d love to get Red Bull and Suzuki together again in the future.''

Red Bull U.S. Race Classification

1. Nicky Hayden (Honda) 45''15.374: 2. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) +1.941: 3. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +2.312: 4. Max Biaggi (Honda) +4.216: 5. Sete Gibernau (Honda) +4.478: 6. Troy Bayliss (Honda) +22.381: 7. Makoto Tamada (Honda) +22.493: 8. JOHN HOPKINS (RED BULL SUZUKI) +23.148: 9. Shinya Nakano (Kawasaki) +23.625: 10. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) +26.123: 14. KENNY ROBERTS JR (RED BULL SUZUKI) +1''13.749:

World Championship Classification

1. Rossi 186: 2.Marco Melandri (Honda) 107: 3. Biaggi 100: 4. Gibernau 95: 5. Edwards 93: 6. Hayden 85: 7. Alex Barros (Honda) 74: 8. Capirossi 55: 9. Nakano 55: 10. Bayliss 47: 14. JOHN HOPKINS (RED BULL SUZUKI) 27: 19. KENNY ROBERTS JR (RED BULL SUZUKI) 11:

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