Fantastic debut podium for Hopkins in Shanghai
 John
Hopkins secured his first MotoGP podium at the Chinese Grand
Prix in Shanghai today, as he stormed his Rizla Suzuki home
in third place - a result that also moves him into the top
five in the MotoGP Championship.
Hopkins started from the front row of the grid and got off
to a great start. He then traded places with Marco Melandri
and Dani Pedrosa early on, before getting away from them and
chasing down Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi. The hard-charging
Anglo-American caught up with the leaders and the three of
them produced incredibly fast lap-times as they pulled away
from the chasing pack. Hopkins tried to make a bid for a higher
position, but decided that bringing his GSV-R home for his
first top-three finish was more important than any last lap
heroics.
Hopkins was visibly overcome as he crossed the line in front
of his cheering team, he will now go onto the next round in
France with high confidence as he looks to build on this success.
Chris Vermeulen again showed his true racer spirit by making
his way up to an impressive seventh place from 15th on the
grid. He battled all race long with Loris Capirossi as the
two of them fought their way through the field in the 22-lap
race. The performance of the Bridgestone tyres was yet again
another major factor in Vermeulen’s ability to get past
other riders and keep the consistency in his lap-times.
Today’s race was held in warm and sunny conditions
with air temperatures reaching 23°C. An exuberant crowd
watched Stoner win his third race of the season on his Bridgestone-shod
Ducati.
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP now travels back to Europe for round
five of the MotoGP World Championship at Le Mans in France
on Sunday 20th May.
John Hopkins:
“I am so happy with the way the race went and I want
to dedicate my first podium to my Dad! Without doubt he was
watching me and he certainly helped get me through to the
finish - there will be more of these to come! I want to also
give a big thanks to everyone who has supported me and especially
my family. I also owe a huge thank-you to my crew who have
been right behind me all the time. I really want to congratulate
Bridgestone for the great tyres and Suzuki for the huge steps
forward with the bike that is enabling me to run at the front
now.
“As far as the race went, I got a good start and then
got passed by Marco and Dani; I started to get a bit frustrated
because Casey and Valentino were pulling away. I made a couple
of aggressive manoeuvres on both Dani and Marco to get round
them and started to chase down the front two. From there on
it was all about trying to hang on to them, they were running
a tremendous pace and I just couldn’t get past. In the
end I made sure I brought the bike home in third. I was praying
nothing would go wrong in the last two laps – and it
didn’t so I guess my Dad was looking down on me! Now
I can’t wait for Le Mans – I’m looking into
backing this up with another podium!”
Chris Vermeulen:
“I was a bit injured from yesterday’s crash,
but the worst part today was that I had to start back on the
fifth row. I got a good start and made up some places through
the first two turns and the bike and tyres felt really good
- I could do consistently fast times. It was a bit of a shame
that I was back there as I did get held up a bit by some slower
riders. I got up to seventh and had a great battle with Loris.
Every time I passed him he’d then go past me on the
straights – we just didn’t have the speed to match
his bike. Seventh place from 15th on the grid is not a bad
performance and we can look forward to Le Mans. I also want
to congratulate John on his first podium in MotoGP, I know
what it means to him and I’m sure there will be plenty
more of those for Rizla Suzuki!”
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“John and Rizla Suzuki really deserved the front row
start yesterday and thoroughly deserved today’s superb
result. John came from a reasonable distance back to relentlessly
close the gap down on Casey and Valentino. He hung with them
fantastically and right up to the last few laps - where discretion
seemed to be the better part of valour - he made sure that
he secured his first podium. To be beaten by those two riders
- in the form they are in at the moment – is no disgrace.
As we move on to some of John’s favourite tracks this
result will certainly give him the confidence to be a regular
front runner.
“Chris’ race was as usual a storming performance,
especially as he was in some discomfort after yesterday’s
accident. He and Loris had a great race for sixth place and
it was nice to see a good clean fight between two real racers,
and a safe finish for both of them.
“Congratulations to the whole team on a good weekends
work!”
Sinopec Great Wall Lubricants GP of China Race Classification:
1. Casey Stoner (Ducati) 44'12.891: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha)
+3.036: 3. JOHN HOPKINS (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +6.663: 4. Dani
Pedrosa (Honda) +14.090: 5. Marco Melandri (Honda) +17.276:
7. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +26.591:
World Championship Classification:
1. Stoner 86: 2. Rossi 71: 3. Pedrosa 49: 4. Melandri 41:
5. JOHN HOPKINS (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) 39: 10. CHRIS VERMEULEN
(RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) 30:
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