HOPKINS SCORES POINTS AS LUCKLESS AOKI RETIRES
08 November 2005 - Suzuki Racing

John Hopkins finished in 13th position at Sunday’s final round of the MotoGP World Championship at Valencia in Spain.,

Team-mate Nobuatsu Aoki had to retire when challenging for a top 10 position.

Hopkins got off to a great start and was up to ninth by the fourth lap, but as the wear rate on his rear tyre increased he dropped away from his normal race pace before finding his consistency again later on.

Aoki started from 14th on the grid but was soon passing other riders – Hopkins included – and was challenging for a top 10 place before disaster struck on lap nine. The unlucky Japanese rider was forced to retire with an electrical control fault and was bitterly disappointed as he felt certain that he would have got a good result.

The Gran Premio betandwin.com Comunitat Valenciana was attended by 124,520 fans and they were treated to a race long battle for first place between Marco Melandri and Nicky Hayden. Melandri crossed the line first to win his second Grand Prix in succession.

Team SUZUKI MotoGP will now stay at Valencia for four more days to test and new signing Chris Vermeulen will join Hopkins and Aoki for his first ride on the Suzuki GSV-R.

John Hopkins:

“I got off to good start and went with Colin Edwards and Alex Barros. It was just push, push, push to try and get ahead. But unfortunately I started to lose a bit of grip and my lap times dramatically dropped off and I had to change my riding style to make up for it. I got into a bit of a battle with Nakano and Elias and then Nobu came by me but unfortunately his bike broke down, which was sad to see - that sucks for him. Other than that I got into another battle with Kiyonari and my lap times stayed consistent till the finish. It’s not the position I wanted to finish the season on – that’s for damn sure. But once Wednesday comes around we’re going to start working on next year and we’re going to get this bike going in 2006!”

Nobuatsu Aoki:

“Things were going well until the engine stopped. I felt something was wrong after about five laps as the engine didn’t seem to have the same push as before. In the first couple of laps I tried to stay with other guys and stay calm. As the tyres got to temperature I started to push a bit harder and got past some riders including John and this felt good. I am really disappointed with what happened as it was a good opportunity for a top 10 – that was my target this weekend. Anyway I am happy to have been at the Grand Prix and really appreciate that Suzuki and Paul gave me the chance to ride and the help from my guys was fantastic. I don’t know if I will get the chance to race again next year but if I do that will be super!”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:

“Both riders were looking for better today but realistically we all know the level of MotoGP and therefore the result was probably expected. John made a fantastic start and bashed his way through into the top 10. He rode some great lap-times in the first few laps but as the tyre made its initial drop in performance he struggled to adapt and get the best out of the package. Towards the end of the race – when he learnt to ride with what he had under him - he showed better pace and ran at similar times to riders higher up the field.

“I feel so sorry for Nobu. He has ridden competitively all weekend and came from 16th on the first lap to get up to what looked like being a good result, but unfortunately he had an electrical failure and was unable to finish the race. After a season’s hard test riding he certainly deserved more than he got today.

“There are some positives to take out of today as our race pace has improved over last year. The overall race time is over half a minute better than 2004 and we are over 20 seconds closer to the first place time. Whilst we can be positive about these moves forward from 2004, the team, the riders, Suzuki and myself personally are far from satisfied with this level of performance and the winter months will be a true test of all of us to make sure that we fulfil a better potential in 2006.”

Gran Premio betandwin.com Comunitat Valenciana Race Classification

1. Marco Melandri (Honda) 46’58.152: 2. Nicky Hayden (Honda) +0.097: 3. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +2.959: 4. Carlos Checa (Ducati) +18.718: 5. Alex Barros (Honda) +20.706: 6. Max Biaggi (Honda) +21.254: 7. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) +23.142: 8. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) +25.678: 9. Makoto Tamada (Honda) +36.710: 10. Toni Elias (Yamaha) +39.116: 13. JOHN HOPKINS (TEAM SUZUKI MOTOGP) +46.507: DNF. NOBUATSU AOKI (TEAM SUZUKI MOTOGP)

World Championship Classification

1. Rossi 367: 2. Melandri 220: 3. Hayden 206: 4. Edwards 179: 5. Biaggi 173: 6. Capirossi 157: 7. Sete Gibernau (Honda) 150: 8. Barros 147: 9. Checa 138: 10. Shinya Nakano (Kawasaki) 98: 13. KENNY ROBERTS JR (TEAM SUZUKI MOTOGP) 63: 14. JOHN HOPKINS (TEAM SUZUKI MOTOGP) 63:

www.suzuki-racing.com

More News
  For November 2005
  From Suzuki Racing
  For Moto GP
  Biker247.com Home Page