FRONT ROW FOR COMEBACK KING HOPKINS IN BRNO
Kawasaki’s John Hopkins and Anthony West will start
tomorrow’s Czech Republic Grand Prix from the front
two rows of the grid after defying the treacherous wet conditions
in today’s qualifying to finish in third and sixth positions
respectively.
Hopkins has made an impressive return to the track after
a three-race absence to score his first front row start of
the season aboard his Ninja ZX-RR. The Anglo-American adopted
a specific strategy at the Brno circuit, which allowed him
to set the third fastest time in the early part of today’s
timed session.
Hopkins cleverly decided to use a softer compound Bridgestone
wet tyre before conditions worsened around the 5.403km track
and set his quickest time on lap six of 10. The 25-year-old
MotoGP pilot is confident ahead of tomorrow’s race,
regardless of whether it is held in wet or dry conditions,
as he believes the significant progress that the Kawasaki
engineers have made over recent weeks will put him in a possible
podium-challenging position.
West finished the day with a huge boost to his confidence,
after a final lap surge around the rain-soaked track put him
in sixth place overall. The 27-year-old continuously slashed
his lap time throughout the hour-long qualifying session,
despite conditions deteriorating with heavy rainfall.
The Kawasaki pilot was challenged with poor visibility, being
held up by another rider and standing water around the circuit
on his very final lap on a soft tyre, but the Australian was
pleased to set his fastest time of the day to finish on the
second row of the grid for tomorrow’s race.
A massive 12 seconds separated the entire MotoGP field with
Bridgestone-shod machines dominating proceedings. As a result,
both Kawasaki riders are looking forward to tomorrow’s
22-lap race come rain or shine.
John Hopkins
#21 - 3rd - 2'12.959
“I am very happy with that. We played it exactly right
and took a gamble at the beginning of the session, which meant
we could put in a decent lap time before it began to rain
harder. I made a little mistake on my fastest lap, but I didn’t
want to push my knee too hard; today is only a small percentage
of the weekend, so we took it easy in the latter part of the
session. I am pleased for myself, but also for Kawasaki, as
huge improvements have been made on the bike since I last
rode it at Assen. The Bridgestone tyres are working really
well too at this circuit and I feel confident for tomorrow
whatever the conditions. Our aim is for a top five finish
as I want to be realistic about what we can achieve, but we’ve
definitely put ourselves in a great position for the race.”
Anthony West
#13 - 6th - 2'14.064
“I really didn’t expect to improve my time on
our last lap, so the final result has been a real confidence
boost. The conditions worsened throughout the session and
there was a lot of standing water around the circuit, so the
bike was aquaplaning in a lot of places. I was struggling
to see and I got held up on my final lap on a soft tyre, but
we still managed to move up a further three places. We’ve
made a lot of improvements to the set-up of the machine, and
although I’m not really sure how this will fair in the
dry, starting from sixth means we’re in a strong position
for the race.”
Michael Bartholemy
Kawasaki Competition Manager
"John's return to racing this weekend in Brno has certainly
been an impressive one. Despite missing the last three races
he was immediately on the pace here in Brno and I'm confident
his strong comeback from injury will continue with a good
result in tomorrow's race, whatever the conditions. Anthony
also did a great job in qualifying, and I hope his sixth position
in today's treacherous conditions will go some way to boosting
his confidence. We know he has the natural talent to compete
at this level, and I think he proved that to himself today.
Based on their performance today, and with the improvements
Kawasaki have made to the Ninja ZX-RR since Laguna, I am confident
of strong performances from both of our riders in tomorrow's
race."
1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 2'11.657; 2. Valentino
Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha +1.189; 3. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki
Racing Team +1.302; 4. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki
MotoGP +1.345; 5. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini
+1.695; 6. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing Team +2.407;
7. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP +2.878; 8. Shinya
Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini +3.061; 9. Loris Capirossi
(ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +3.148; 10. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA)
Alice Teamw +3.204
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