HOPKINS AND ROBERTS JR PUT SUZUKI IN THE TOP THREE AT MOTEGI
16 September 2005 - Suzuki Racing

John Hopkins topped the time sheets for the first time in 2005 as he set the fastest time during today’s free practice sessions at the Grand Prix of Japan, with team-mate Kenny Roberts Jr just behind in third place.

Hopkins (1’47.952, 46 laps) set the quickest time of the day at the end of the afternoon session - after finishing second in the morning. The hard riding style of the young Suzuki star seemed well suited to the Motegi circuit as he put in consistently fast times in front of many Factory VIP’s.

Roberts Jr (1’48.263, 37 laps) will be racing in his 100th Grand Prix for Suzuki this weekend and produced his best first day of the season so far to record third place. His fastest time was only 0.311 seconds behind Hopkins and also quicker than the current lap record.

Today’s sessions gave the riders a chance to try the latest generation Bridgestone race tyres and both were delighted with the performance. Motegi is the home Grand Prix for the Japanese tyre manufacturer and it will be as determined as Team SUZUKI MotoGP to get a good result on Sunday.

Both sessions were held in warm and sunny conditions with air temperatures reaching 34 degrees and a track surface temperature of 39 degrees. Tomorrow will see both Team SUZUKI MotoGP racers take part in a further free practice session before the hour long timed qualifying period in the afternoon. Sunday’s race is round 12 of the MotoGP World Championship and 24 lap race will get underway at 14.00hrs (local time), 08.00hrs CET.

John Hopkins:

“I’m extremely pleased with everything that Suzuki and Bridgestone have brought here, I’m pretty happy with the way things went. I had a minor problem that we were able to sort out quickly and got straight back out on track, we only lost about three laps so it wasn’t anything serious.

“Right now I’m really happy with the progress Suzuki has made with the engine parts, the GSV-R has got a lot cleaner feel off of the corners and the throttle management feels a lot better. I am really excited about the new rear tyre that Bridgestone has produced. The race is definitely something to look forward to on Sunday!”

Kenny Roberts Jr:

“I think we are relatively similar to where we were at Brno – in or around the top five or six. We will have to wait and see how qualifying goes tomorrow and see if we can get a decent start in the race. We have our backs up against the wall here with acceleration and that’s really the biggest key. As a rider you always want the bike to go round the corner faster, but in reality the thing that would help us most at the moment would be ten to twelve bike lengths extra speed down the back straight. It’s not a negative thing it’s just something we have to work through, and do the best with what we’ve got.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:

“A good day’s work! We have two very committed riders and a motorcycle which as a package is evolving week by week. We used qualifying tyres to set those times because we have new compounds from Bridgestone and just wanted to check that in the right conditions they will work well – which they obviously did.

“On race tyres, and particularly when grip reduces, it will be a battle to live with some of the other bikes on acceleration, but for now we will take the positives from today’s result and look forward to another good day tomorrow.”

Grand Prix of Japan Free Practice Classification:

1. JOHN HOPKINS (TEAM SUZUKI MOTOGP) 1’47.952: 2. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) +0.101: 3. KENNY ROBERTS JR (TEAM SUZUKI MOTOGP) +0.311: 4. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +0.622: 5. Sete Gibernau (Honda) +0.630: 6. Alex Barros (Honda) +0.668: 7. Nicky Hayden (Honda) +0.694: 8. Max Biaggi (Honda) +0.766: 9. Carlos Checa (Ducati) +0.778: 10. Marco Melandri (Honda) +0.799:

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