FANTASTIC LAST LAP FOR HOPKINS
21 August 2006 - Rizla-Suzuki

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer John Hopkins produced two fantastic last-lap overtaking manoeuvres to pass Shinya Nakano and Championship leader Nicky Hayden, to steal seventh place at yesterday’s Czech Grand Prix in Brno.

Hopkins got a poor start and was relegated down to 10th at the end of the first lap, but the aggressive riding style of the Anglo-American meant that he never lost touch with the front group and saved his best till last. He overtook Colin Edwards with two laps remaining and then forced his way past Nakano and Hayden with less than a quarter of a lap to go.

Team-mate Chris Vermeulen also produced a solid and hard-fought ride for his 12th place finish. The rookie Australian was chasing the pack all weekend after almost losing a day’s testing on Friday due to vibration problems. He battled all race long to get on terms with the riders in front of him and managed to pass Makoto Tamada with three laps remaining.

Today’s race was watched by 84,125 fans at trackside in warm but cloudy conditions, and they were treated to a dominant victory performance by Loris Capirossi on his Bridgestone shod Ducati.

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP will now remain in Brno for two days testing before the MotoGP circus travels eastwards for the three fly-away races starting in Malaysia on Sunday 10th September, before moving on to Australia and Japan over the following two weeks.

John Hopkins:

“I would say that this has probably been my best race of the year so far. It’s not my best result but as far as an all out race it was good! We didn’t get the best of starts but we were able to hang on to the lead group and from there try to pick the other guys off one by one – it wasn’t until the late stages that I was able to do that. Going into the last lap I knew that I had something for Nakano and Hayden. I made some manoeuvres and got by them both and then blocked them till the end. It was really good and I am happy with the result. I want to say a big thanks to my crew this weekend, they have done a great job and worked their butts off! Now we have a two week break so the mechanics can have a nice rest and then we will be ready for the three fly-aways. They are all good tracks for us and we need to get right up there in the points!

Chris Vermeulen:

“It was difficult starting from the fifth row of the grid. I got a reasonably good start but with so many guys in front it is hard to go where you want to go. The thing was that all race there were fifteen guys all going very fast and I struggled a bit at the beginning with grip, but as everybody else’s grip levels came down mine stayed the same and I was able to do good lap times. I had a good battle with Tamada and Elias, but it is still quite difficult to pass a Honda - they do have an advantage in horsepower, but our advantage in grip levelled us out and I had a good fight with them. I managed to get Tamada and finished 12th and only 16 seconds off the podium, which from a bad weekend’s start is a good finish. We have learned a lot here and I am sure we can take it on in the next few races.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:

“John and Chris’ positions weren’t the best we have achieved this year but in terms of rider performance today’s Grand Prix at Brno was one of the best of the season so far, after a difficult start to the weekend – we struggled to get the best feeling from the bike on Friday and it put us behind where we would like to be. However the team made a great recovery and if we had managed to start in better positions our end results could have been a lot different! John finished less than two seconds from fourth place and did an incredible last couple of laps – particularly the last lap itself when he passed both Shinya and Nicky, in an undoubtedly aggressive manner!

“I think Chris and his crew learned a lot here and he stuck to today’s task supremely well and again, with a better start to the weekend, he had the potential to finish a fair bit higher up.

“Overall Rizla Suzuki has to be happy with what was achieved today and it will give the whole team confidence for the three up-coming fly-away races next month.

“Rizla Suzuki MotoGP would like to congratulate Loris Capirossi and Bridgestone on such a dominant win. The tyre performance today can only give us increased confidence in Bridgestone’s potential, with some of their favourite tracks coming up.”

Gauloises Grand Prix Ceske Republiky Race Classification:

1. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 43’40.145: 2. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +4.902: 3. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +8.012: 7. JOHN HOPKINS (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +16.775: 12. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +23.978:

World Championship Classification:

1. Nicky Hayden (Honda) 201: 2. Pedrosa 176: 3. Rossi 163: 9. JOHN HOPKINS (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) 83: 13. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) 61:

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