Unlucky Hopkins crashes whilst on podium pace
 Rizla
Suzuki MotoGP racer John Hopkins saw his hopes of a podium
dashed today as he crashed out from fourth place during the
Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez.
Hopkins had been involved in a 13-lap battle with World Champion
Nicky Hayden, and had just managed to get past him and begin
to chase down the front three when disaster struck on lap
17. Suzuki’s Anglo-American star lost grip at the front
end of the bike as a gust of wind caused him to run wide on
a fast right-hand corner. He was unhurt in the crash, and
although he re-mounted his battered GSV-R, was unable to collect
any championship points as he brought his bike home in 19th
place.
Chris Vermeulen had another eventful race – similar
to the last outing in Qatar. He started from 14th on the grid
and was relegated a couple more places during the first lap,
but the determined Australian fought back to claim ninth place,
passing some very experienced riders in the process. The third
member of the this week’s Rizla Suzuki MotoGP team,
Kousuke Akiyoshi, just missed out on the points during his
first-ever European GP. He rode hard all race and finished
in a respectable 17th place despite this being only his second
ever Grand Prix start.
Today’s race was held in warm and sunny conditions
and was watched by a record breaking crowd of 138,168 fans
at trackside – the biggest ever at a MotoGP. Valentino
Rossi won the race to give him his fifth premier class victory
at Jerez, and make him MotoGP’s most successful rider
ever at this track.
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP will stay at Jerez for a full day’s
testing tomorrow to help prepare for the next race of the
season at Istanbul in Turkey on Sunday 22nd April.
John Hopkins:
“I am disappointed to say the least - the worst thing
is that we have lost valuable championship points. My race
pace and the tyres felt good and I was able to put in a few
passes in the beginning. I was in a group that was making
a bit of a gap, but then I got held up by Nicky. I wanted
to get past him, but I was having a hard time doing it. It
looked like I was following him, but that wasn’t what
I wanted. When I got past him I started to chase down the
front three, but the wind then picked up and I got blown sideways
by a big gust and the pace I was going, and the lean angle
I had, I just lost the front! As I say I’m disappointed,
but this is a long season and we won’t let this faze
us. We’ll take the positives from here and come back
even stronger in Turkey!”
Chris Vermeulen:
“I knew it was going to be a tough race having to start
from 14th and it’s difficult to pass around here. At
the beginning there were so many guys going so fast and I
got involved in a few tussles with people like Capirossi,
Barros and Kenny Jr, and they know a thing or two about racing!
I found it quite hard to come through the field but I managed
to get past quite a few and on the last lap I had a bit of
a battle with Barros to keep ninth. It’s an improvement
on where we started, to finish in the top 10, but we still
have a long way to go. The main thing is that we need to qualify
and start better to make sure we finish better!”
Kousuke Akiyoshi:
“I am a bit disappointed not to get any points, but
it was a very hard race. I got a good start and I did make
a couple of passes on other riders. I have had a good time
here at Jerez and it was everything I thought it would be.
I would like to thank Suzuki for this race and I hope to be
at another Grand Prix soon.”
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“The results don’t reflect what a good job the
team did today. John’s tyre choice was certainly the
best of the selection we had, and without doubt it was a big
opportunity missed to finish the same – or better –
than Qatar. He got stuck behind Nicky for quite a few laps,
but once past he was immediately after that podium. The good
news is that he didn’t hurt himself and he picked his
bike up and finished the race. We showed again that the GSV-R
is a decent package and that the results will come.
“Chris’ weekend was really no different to Qatar.
As ever he showed he’s a true racer and toughed it out
to finish at the front of a big fight. He had some incredible
battles with some great riders, but a better qualifying performance
will see him run much closer to the front guys at the end
of the race.
“Turkey holds some good memories for us from last year.
John will be stronger next month and we will take the positives
from the potential shown today and make sure Rizla Suzuki
MotoGP is battling at the front again at Istanbul!”
Gran Premio bwin.com De Espana Race Classification:
1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 45’53.340: 2. Dani Pedrosa
(Honda) +1.246: 3. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) +2.701: 4. Toni
Elias +4.351: 5. Casey Stoner (Ducati) +4.993: 9. CHRIS VERMEULEN
(RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +24.786: 17. KOUSUKE AKIYOSHI (RIZLA
SUZUKI MOTOGP) +50.784: 19. JOHN HOPKINS (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP)
+1’03.371:
World Championship Classification:
1. Rossi 45: 2. Stoner 36: 3. Pedrosa 36: 4. Edwards 26:
5. Marco Melandri (Honda) 19: 7. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI
MOTOGP) 16: 9. JOHN HOPKINS (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) 13:
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