Fighting fourth for Hopkins in Catalonian thriller
 Rizla
Suzuki MotoGP racer John Hopkins continued with his great
run of form today as he stormed to a brilliant fourth place
at the Catalan GP at Montmelo near Barcelona, setting the
fastest lap of the race in the process.
Hopkins was fifth on the grid and got of to a great start,
as he and three other riders made a break away right from
the beginning. Hopkins swapped places with Valentino Rossi
in the early stages as the two riders went head-to-head for
the second race in succession. Hopkins posted the fastest
lap-time of the race on lap eight as he battled to stay with
Rossi, championship leader Casey Stoner and local hero Dani
Pedrosa. Try as he might the Anglo-American just couldn’t
find his way past and brought his Rizla Suzuki home in a very
creditable fourth, to consolidate his sixth place in the championship
standings.
Chris Vermeulen had a tough start to the race as he was down
on the fourth row of the grid. He also got boxed in early
on and lost a couple of places, but the Australian showed
his race ability to the full again as he made his way through
the field. He nearly grabbed sixth place right at the end
of the 25-lap race, but was just beaten to the line by Loris
Capirossi. Vermeulen stays in fifth in the championship and
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP strengthens its third place in the teams’
title race.
Today’s event was held in very warm sunshine with temperatures
reaching over 30°C. The huge Catalan crowd of over 112,000
were treated to a thrilling race that saw Stoner on his Bridgestone-shod
Ducati just edge out Rossi in the final few yards of the race.
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP will now stay in Catalunya for a two-day
test before it moves on to its ‘home GP’ at Donington
Park in England for round eight of the MotoGP World Championship
on Sunday 24th June.
John Hopkins:
“I’ve got to that point where I am now disappointed
not to be on the podium, obviously I’m happy to be in
the top five but I want more! It was a tough race and I held
in there with the first three for as long as I could, but
with about eight laps to go I started to lose a bit of pace
and as hard as I tried I was losing that little bit more each
lap - so I had to settle for fourth place. We’re really
happy with the Suzuki and Bridgestone tyre package this season
and the tyres are working a lot better than they did last
year - so no complaints there at all. Now we have a couple
of days testing here and I am looking forward to bettering
my times and then moving on to the next two tracks that I
think will really suit the GSV-R800. I am sure that we will
soon have a good chance of getting on the podium every weekend!”
Chris Vermeulen:
“I got a reasonable start from the fourth row, but
then got boxed in a bit and dropped back a couple of places.
I had a tough fight with Alex Barros early on and found it
really hard to get past his Ducati - as it’s pretty
quick in a straight line! I got through the field and the
bike felt very good and consistent right till the end. I had
a battle with Loris Capirossi on the last lap, and although
I got past him he just went by me on the next straight. Seventh
place from 11th is not too bad, and we now have lots of work
to do in the next couple of days to make sure we are stronger
for Donington!”
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“As Team Manager it is not easy to say exactly how
I feel after this race! Both the guys rode very well, John
set the fastest lap, and fourth and seventh place is a good
result at this circuit for the whole team and for Bridgestone.
It is a measure of how our expectations have risen that both
John and Chris want to finish higher. But we have no right
to complain - for Chris to come from right down the field
and almost grab sixth on the final lap, and for John to race
so hard against the top three in the championship can’t
be bad. When the combination works to our advantage, I think
we now have the bike, rider and tyre package to win one of
these things in the dry!”
Gran Premi Cinzano de Catalunya Race Classification:
1. Casey Stoner (Ducati) 43’16.907: 2 Valentino Rossi
(Yamaha) +0.069: 3. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +0.390: 4. JOHN HOPKINS
(RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +7.814: 5. Randy de Puniet (Kawasaki)
+17.853: 7. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +19.495:
World Championship Classification:
1. Stoner 140: 2. Rossi 126: Pedrosa 98: 4. Marco Melandri
(Honda) 75: 5. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) 75: 6.
JOHN HOPKINS (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) 75:
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