HOPKINS RACES TO TOP FIVE FINISH AT MOTEGI
18 September 2005 - Suzuki Racing

Team SUZUKI MotoGP racer John Hopkins recorded the first top five position of his MotoGP career at the Grand Prix of Japan from a sun-soaked Motegi today.

As air and track temperatures rose from the splendid far eastern sunshine, Hopkins kept a cool head as many other riders crashed out of the race. Having started in second place the aggressive Anglo-American was determined to get around turn one – something he had not done in the previous two GP’s at Motegi.

Having negotiated the first corner he settled into a good groove and was hot-on-the-heels of reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi. An uncharacteristic mistake by Rossi saw him crash into Marco Melandri and Hopkins was left in fifth place – a position he held throughout the rest of the race.

Kenny Roberts Jr also finished well inside the top ten in his 100th Grand Prix start for Suzuki. The ex-World Champion rode his ever-improving GSV-R to a strong eighth place behind eventual winner Loris Capirossi on his Ducati.

Today’s race was watched by a colourful and enthusiastic Japanese crowd of 68,015 fans that included many Suzuki supporters. A large delegation of Suzuki Motor Corporation staff and management also attended and gave additional support to Team SUZUKI MotoGP.

The next round of the MotoGP World Championship will be in seven days time as the fantastic series moves south to Malaysia for round 13 on Sunday 25th September.

John Hopkins:

“Finally I got the top five finish I’ve been looking for in my whole GP career! I am perfectly confident in my riding talent, I have always believed that the results would come when the machinery gets better and that’s exactly what’s happened.

“Suzuki has brought some improvements here and the Bridgestone tyres were just unbelievable this weekend, everything about them was really good. I had a couple of front-end slides in the race but that was inevitable with the heat. The lap-times weren’t as good as what we had been doing but as I said with the heat that is only natural.

“I got to the first corner and just kept thinking don’t anybody hit me, don’t anybody hit me and they didn’t! So I breathed a huge sigh of relief and just kept my cool and my consistency and brought it home in the top five. That was really important for me because first it’s the top five - then a podium - then a win!”

Kenny Roberts Jr:

“That was basically the worst result besides falling down that I could have strung together. I think either the temperature change got us or something, but I couldn’t be aggressive from the start and was only using half my braking force. I then got frustrated and was overshooting the corners and by the time I had got to the next corner I didn’t know where the hell to brake. This complicated everything and I then felt as if something was wrong, so that and sliding the front all added up to me just riding around completely lost.

“I think we could have had a better result – to what level I don’t know – but we obviously need to keep improving.”

Hirotaka Ono – Board Member, Suzuki Overseas Marketing:

“I think the team did their best so I am happy today. But of course I’m not satisfied with today’s result. But now the tyre construction is getting better – the Bridgestone team is working very hard – so I hope our staff can develop a more powerful engine for it.

“I think we have a big possibility and the team situation and team-work is very good, so as I said today I am happy but not satisfied.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:

“I’m really pleased that John has got the top five position that he has been working so hard for. He’s ridden consistently on the limit all weekend and richly deserves the result – and the bonus money!

“My feeling before the race was that a top ten result would be – despite the qualifying positions – a sensible and achievable target. We got better than that!

“Kenny suffered – along with John in the early laps – from a lack of front grip and an inability to brake hard and turn in, maybe caused by the higher track temperature this afternoon than we have had all weekend. Both the guys managed to cope with it and a lot of the riders didn’t - there was a lot of carnage out there.

“I’d like to thank all Suzuki senior management, in particular Mr Iguchi and Mr Ono for attending this weekend. They can see the effort that the riders and the team are making and we know where we have to be. Those guys are going to help us get there.”

Grand Prix of Japan Race Classification

1. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 43’30.499: 2. Max Biaggi (Honda) +1.479: 3. Makoto Tamada (Honda) +16.227: 4. Carlos Checa (Ducati) +22.148: 5. JOHN HOPKINS (TEAM SUZUKI MOTOGP) +33.212: 6. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) +34.915: 7. Nicky Hayden (Honda) +45.894: 8. KENNY ROBERTS JR (TEAM SUZUKI MOTOGP) +56.498: 9. Toni Elias (Yamaha) +1’12.037: 10. Ruben Xaus (Yamaha) +1’34.927:

World Championship Classification

1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 261: 2. Biaggi 149: 3. Edwards 133: 4. Marco Melandri (Yamaha) 126: 5. Hayden 121: 6. Capirossi 117: 7. Sete Gibernau (Honda) 115: 8. Alex Barros (Honda) 114: 9. Checa 72: 10. Shinya Nakano (Kawasaki) 69: 13. KENNY ROBERTS JR (TEAM SUZUKI MOTOGP) 49: 14. JOHN HOPKINS (TEAM SUZUKI MOTOGP) 46:

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