John Hopkins (motorcycle racer)

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For other persons named John Hopkins, see John Hopkins (disambiguation).
John Hopkins
John Hopkins 2005
No free image
Nationality Flag of the United States American
Date of birth May 22, 1983 (1983-05-22) (age 25)
Place of birth Ramona, California
Website hopperracing.com
MotoGP Record
Current team Kawasaki Motors Racing
Bike number 21
World Championships 0
Race starts 100
Race Wins 0
Podium finishes 4
Pole positions 1
Fastest laps 2
Championship Points 500
2008 Championship position 12th (26 pts) - In Progress

John "Hopper" Hopkins (pronounced /ˈdʒɒn ˈhɒpkɪnz/) (born May 22, 1983) is an American MotoGP racer currently racing for the Kawasaki MotoGP team. He first raced in MotoGP in 2002 for the Red Bull Yamaha WCM team on a two-stroke 500cc bike, and joined the factory Suzuki squad a year later, for a five-year spell.

He was born in Ramona, California to English parents.

His race number is 21.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Hopkins began riding Motocross bikes as a child and won his first race on a MiniBike on 1986, switching to road racing full time in 1999.

Hopkins proposed to his girlfriend Ashleigh in the summer of 2007 on her 21st birthday. They married in Las Vegas in December 2007.

[edit] MotoGP career

[edit] 2002

The 2002 season saw Hopkins join the WCM RedBull Yamaha team alongside multiple race winner Garry McCoy. The team was using Yamaha YZR500 motorcycles on lease from Yamaha. Overall the YZR500 was considered to be uncompetitive that year, due to a change in the regulations allowing 990cc four-stroke motorcycles to race against 500cc two-stroke motorcycles. Although the two-strokes held (on average) a 10 kg weight advantage over the four-strokes, they had between 30 and 50 less hp depending on the engine configuration used for the racetrack. Hopkins finished the season ranked 15th, with 58 points, which put him 25 points clear of his teammate McCoy.

[edit] 2003

In 2003 Hopkins joined the Suzuki factory racing team. This year he would ride a 990cc V4 four-stroke. In 2003 John was teamed with 2000 500cc world champion Kenny Roberts, Jr.. Although he was racing a four-stroke this year, the results didn't seem to come as one would have expected. There are many theories for this, including the Suzuki's lack of horsepower and its tendency to wear out tires faster than other bikes. This year also saw Hopkins involved in a turn 1 crash at the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi, he was accused of causing this crash, and was suspended for one race. This suspension resulted in a DNS (did not start) at the Malaysian Grand Prix. Also noteworthy for the 2003 season was the crash in Italy where Kenny Roberts, Jr.'s GSV-R Suzuki suffered an engine management failure and the bike launched into Hopkins, putting both GSV-R's out of the race. At the end of the season, Hopkins finished in 17th place with 29 points. This finish put him 2 places and 7 points ahead of his teammate Kenny Roberts, Jr.

[edit] 2004

The technology and technical advancement of the GSV-R was further developed in 2004. Most of the refinements took place in the engine management package, making the bike easier to ride. Towards the end of the year, the GSV-R was showing clear improvements, allowing Hopkins to move up the standings. Unfortunately it also saw several mechanical failures, which effectively undid the hard work to develop the motorcycle. Having qualified on the front row at Motegi, he was eliminated in a first-corner crash. Of note is that John was crashed into by Loris Capirossi, one of the same riders he himself had hit at the very same turn 1 at Motegi in 2003. Overall he finished 16th.

[edit] 2005

John Hopkins in 2005
John Hopkins in 2005

John continued with Suzuki in 2005, as the team showed promising signs after the arrival of Paul Denning as team boss following Denning's success with Suzuki's British Superbike team. John briefly lead at Donington, but his best result was a 5th place at Motegi, and he was 14th overall. Qualifying results were often better than race results, largely due to Bridgestone tyres being better suited to short runs.

[edit] 2006

Remains at Suzuki, now backed by Rizla, where he is joined by new team-mate Chris Vermeulen. Enjoys his best season yet. Hopkins finished the 2006 season in 10th place overall with 116 points. Hopkins has had one pole position this season, at Assen. His best finishes were in China and in Catalunya, where he finished fourth.

[edit] 2007

Continuing with Rizla Suzuki, Hopkins set near-lap-record times aboard the new 800cc motorcycle, and was labeled the dark horse by Colin Edwards. On 15 February 2007 he fractured his wrist after falling while testing at the Jerez circuit in Spain, but returned for the start of the season.

Hopkins completed his long-overdue first MotoGP podium finish at the Shanghai circuit in China, finishing in 3rd place - 3.6 seconds behind Valentino Rossi but 7.6 seconds ahead of 2006 event winner Dani Pedrosa. He finished as 4th overall in the 2007 season, two places ahead of Vermeulen and one behind Rossi.

[edit] 2008

For 2008 he joins Monster Kawasaki . Explaining the decision, Rizla Suzuki boss Paul Denning suggested that "There are reasons for that other than performance".[1]

[edit] Grand Prix motorcycle racing career

[edit] By Seasons

Year Class Moto Race Win Pod Pole FLap Pts Plcd WCh
2002 MotoGP Yamaha YZR500 15 0 0 0 0 58 15th -
2003 MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R 14 0 0 0 0 29 17th -
2004 MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R 15 0 0 0 0 45 16th -
2005 MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R 17 0 0 0 0 63 14th -
2006 MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R 17 0 0 1 0 116 10th -
2007 MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R 18 0 4 0 2 189 4th -
Total 96 0 4 1 2 500 0

[edit] By class

Class Seas 1st GP 1st Pod 1st Win Race Win Pod Pole FLap Pts WCh
MotoGP 2002-2007 2002 Japan 2007 France N/A 96 0 4 1 2 500 0
Total 2002-2007 96 0 4 1 2 500 0

[edit] Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Yr Class Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Final Pos Pts
2002 MotoGP Yamaha JPN
12		 SAF
13		 SPA
14		 FRA
11		 ITA
12		 CAT
10		 NED
7		 GBR
8		 GER
Inj		 CZE
Ret		 POR
8		 BRA
14		 PAC
14		 MAL
18		 AUS
16		 VAL
11		     15th 58
2003 MotoGP Suzuki JPN
13		 SAF
13		 SPA
7		 FRA
Ret		 ITA
Ret		 CAT
15		 NED
15		 GBR
11		 GER
Ret		 CZE
17		 POR
18		 BRA
Inj		 PAC
Ret		 MAL
Ex		 AUS
12		 VAL
13		     17th 29
2004 MotoGP Suzuki SAF
13		 SPA
15		 FRA
Ret		 ITA
Inj		 CAT
Ret		 NED
14		 BRA
15		 GER
9		 GBR
8		 CZE
Ret		 POR
6		 JPN
Ret		 QAT
8		 MAL
Ret		 AUS
15		 VAL
12		     16th 45
2005 MotoGP Suzuki SPA
14		 POR
Ret		 CHN
7		 FRA
16		 ITA
11		 CAT
Ret		 NED
14		 USA
8		 GBR
11		 GER
DNS		 CZE
14		 JPN
5		 MAL
9		 QAT
17		 AUS
10		 TUR
15		 VAL
13		   14th 63
2006 MotoGP Suzuki SPA
9		 QAT
Ret		 TUR
17		 CHN
4		 FRA
15		 ITA
10		 CAT
4		 NED
6		 GBR
8		 GER
10		 USA
6		 CZE
7		 MAL
6		 AUS
12		 JPN
12		 POR
6		 VAL
11		   10th 116
2007 MotoGP Suzuki QAT
4		 SPA
19		 TUR
6		 CHN
3		 FRA
7		 ITA
5		 CAT
4		 GBR
5		 NED
5		 GER
7		 USA
15		 CZE
2		 SMR
3		 POR
6		 JPN
10		 AUS
7		 MAL
8		 VAL
3		 4th 189
2008 MotoGP Kawasaki QAT
12		 SPA
7		 POR
5		 CHN
14		 FRA
Ret		 ITA
Ret		 CAT
-		 GBR
-		 NED
-		 GER
-		 USA
-		 CZE
-		 SMR
-		 IND
-		 JPN
-		 AUS
-		 MAL
-		 VAL
-		 - -

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kawasaki sign Hopkins from Suzuki. bbc.co.uk.

[edit] External links

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Teams and Riders competing in the 2008 MotoGP World Championship
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