John Hopkins finishes Spanish Grand Prix in 10th place for Rizla Suzuki – MotoGP news
Rizla Suzuki had a chance to run in their first race of 2011 season, after missing the season-opener race at Qatar.
John Hopkins was the rider to bring Rizla Suzuki back to run on the second race of the season Gran Premio bwin de Espana at the Jerez circuit, Spain.
The Suzuki was out of race due to their solo rider Alvaro Bautista faced an accident during the free practice session of Friday before Qatar’s Grand Prix. Alvaro Bautista got his left femur fractured and was rushed to a medical facility.
After that, Suzuki managed to contact Hopkins and another rider but both were not available, as Hopkins was in America and reached just a day before he was called for a return to Qatar. The other rider was from Japan but could not mange in reaching
Qatar, as the country was struck by earthquake and tsunami.
John Hopkins finished at the 10th place in the Gran Premio bwin de Espana and it was his first MotoGP race since 2008. Hopper stated his race from 14th position on the starting grid and climbed several positions in the start.
After mid of the race, just few laps on the countdown Hopkins had to face lack of grip which cost him few positions to fall but maintained his steady pace to end with a 10th place on the time sheet.
On the other hand, many riders were finding tough to keep up with wet and greasy conditions on the track, as Andrea Dovizioso was 12th and last to finish the race, despite of having a race winning machine.
Some top stars were also victimised by the wet conditions as Rossi was late to brake while entering a corner and lost his front end sweeping with him the initial race leader Casey Stoner, devastating his race chances.
Marco Simoncelli who galloped to the lead just before the Stoner-Rossi accident was also forced to retire after his fall, while trying to push harder to gain the gap of lead.
Ben Spies was also who ran into gravel while slipping on the track and could not make to the end of the race. Colin Edwards of Monster Yamaha Tech3 also did not finish in points.
The next race for Rizla Suzuki will be the bwin Grande Premio de Portugal at the Estoril Circuit on Sunday, May
1. However, it is not confirm yet that who will be racing the Suzuki GSV-R on the Estoril track. Meanwhile, John Hopkins has a commitment of race weekend at the British Superbike on the same weekend as of MotoGP of Portugal.
“It has been an amazing weekend and I’m so grateful again to Rizla Suzuki for giving me this great opportunity. Hopefully in the future, you’ll see more of me here, but for now I need to concentrate on the BSB championship and we’ll see what happens,”
he said.
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