HOPKINS WORKING HARD DOWN UNDER
15 October 2005 - Suzuki Racing

Team SUZUKI Racer John Hopkins has qualified in 11th position for tomorrow’s Polini Australian Grand Prix, where he will be Suzuki’s sole representative for the race.

Hopkins (1’30.667) used this morning’s final practice session and a big slice of this afternoon’s qualifying to fine tune the set-up of his Suzuki GSV-R for Sunday’s 27-lap race. He used the latest generation Bridgestone race tyres – designed to cope with the high speed Phillip Island track and increased temperatures - to their full extent, and was able to prove their consistency and durability over a race distance. He still has a number of things to iron out before the race starts tomorrow, and will be working hard with his crew this evening - and in morning practice - to make sure he gets the very best from both machine and tyres in the race.

Hopkins is racing on his own due to the unfortunate injury that sidelined team-mate Kenny Roberts Jr yesterday. Roberts Jr has suffered a fracture to the left wrist and is already on his way back to America for further tests and treatment. He hopes to be fit for the final round of the MotoGP World Championship at Valencia next month.

The qualifying session was held in sunny conditions with the fastest time and pole position set by Nicky Hayden on a Honda. He will be joined on the front row by Valentino Rossi and Sete Gibernau, when round 15 of the championship gets underway tomorrow at 14.30hrs (local time), 06.30hrs CET.

John Hopkins:

“We have been struggling a little bit throughout the weekend. We are working really hard with the set-up and we have tried to improve the edge-grip. This we have done but we now have a bit of a chatter problem. We are trying everything we can but unfortunately we haven’t found a solution yet. There are a couple more things that myself and the team will work on this evening and hopefully find that solution. Fourth row is obviously not where we want to be, but one of the positives that has come out of it is that we are nearly one and a half seconds quicker than we were last year – so that shows the improvements made to the bike. I’m confident that we can come up with a solution and find about half-a-second a lap and fight for a top-10 position tomorrow.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:

“John made a big effort today. The qualifying result is a long way away from the best we have seen this year but the effort and application from the team has been the same as ever. We’ve worked through a large combination of chassis settings to help the grip and done lots of laps on the chosen Bridgestone race tyres. The tyres will easily complete race distance at a consistent pace. We are struggling with ultimate speed on the lap-times and we could do with more punch off the corners to help us at this circuit. John is certainly making every effort he can but hopefully he can tidy things up a little, and the bike can improve further – plus without Kenny here John doesn’t have a gauge. He has qualified in a decent position on the fourth row and if he gets a good start I’m sure that he will be able to keep with the faster guys and go for another top-10 finish.”

Polini Australian Grand Prix Qualifying Practice Classification

1. Nicky Hayden (Honda) 1’29.337: 2. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +0.106: 3. Sete Gibernau (Honda) +0.392: 4. Carlos Checa (Ducati) +0.438: 5. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) +0.606: 6. Max Biaggi (Honda) +0.733: 7. Toni Elias (Yamaha) +0.757: 8. Marco Melandri (Honda) +0.985: 9. Makoto Tamada (Honda) +1.287: 10. Shinya Nakano (Kawasaki) +1.291: 11. JOHN HOPKINS (TEAM SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1.330:

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