HOPKINS FIGHTS HIS WAY TO A TOP-EIGHT FINISH AT DONINGTON
04 July 2006 - Rizla-Suzuki

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer John Hopkins picked up yet another high scoring position at the GAS British Grand Prix at Donington, as he finished in the top 10 for the fourth race in succession.

Anglo-American Hopkins got a good start from the second row of the grid and was running in a podium position early on. As the race progressed and grip was compromised in his tyres due to the high track temperatures, he had to battle hard to maintain his pace. He eventually brought his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R home in eighth place – a position good enough to move him into the top 10 in the World Championship table.

Chris Vermeulen also had a strong first half to the race and he was running with the leading pack. Unfortunately disaster struck for the rookie Australian on lap 16 when Colin Edwards tried to overtake him at the Melbourne Loop. The two riders collided and Vermeulen came off the worst as he crashed to the floor. He re-mounted and rode back to the pits for running repairs before re-joining the race. The gap between the other riders was too great, and although he gave chase he was unable to get into a point scoring position and crossed the line in 16th.

Today’s race was watched by 68,391 spectators and they witnessed Dani Pedrosa win his second Grand Prix of the season. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP now moves on to Sachsenring in Germany for round 10 of the 2006 MotoGP World Championship on Sunday 16th July.

John Hopkins:

“I’m pretty disappointed because I would have liked to have finished a lot higher, maybe in the top five or six. It just wasn’t on the cards today! I did everything I could and got the maximum out of all that I had today. The Suzuki was working really good and the Bridgestones had been working really well in the early laps. We had a minor difficulty and lost a lot of grip but we just kept at it and tried to pick up as many points as I could. I have got into the top 10 and my ultimate goal this year is to get up into the top five. We just need to keep doing well and firstly we need to get some good points in Germany and then I am really looking forward to my home Grand Prix in America!”

Chris Vermeulen:

“The start of the race was ok, I knew I had a hard race tyre and I was quite comfortable where I was in the pack. Colin went past me and he went a little deep so I tried to go up the inside of him but he turned the bike back in and I had nowhere to go. I went over and bent the handlebar into the frame so I had to come into the garage and get the bike fixed up. We went out again and I was able ride at a reasonable pace but I had no brake adjuster and it was getting a bit difficult to ride, plus the footrest was rubbing on the chain so it wasn’t the best! We made big steps this weekend and before I crashed we were a lot closer to the leaders than we have been. We now have to take this forward to Sachsenring – a circuit I’ve never been to before – and see how we go there.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:

“All-in-all for both riders and for Suzuki we have to say we have had a successful weekend in terms of our qualifying and the potential shown by both riders – especially John – in the first third of the race. Bridgestone will freely admit that they had an extremely difficult weekend at a track that we knew may be tough. I want to say thank-you to John for maintaining a better pace than looked possible as the tyre degradation became extreme, and thanks to Chris for getting his bike back to the pits, getting it fixed and trying to get some points.

“We will have better days, and I run the danger of becoming boring by repeating myself, but as we keep moving forward the day will come when bike, rider and tyres match the situation and we look forward to running up front over the full race distance!”

GAS British Grand Prix Race Classification:

1. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 44’54.878: 2. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +3.864: 3. Marco Melandri (Honda) +4.016: 8. JOHN HOPKINS (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +29.034: 16. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1 LAP:

World Championship Classification:

1. Nicky Hayden (Honda) 153: 2.Pedrosa 127: 3. Rossi 118: 10. JOHN HOPKINS (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) 58: 14. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) 37:

www.suzuki-racing.com

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