John Hopkins (racing driver)

John Hopkins 2005

John "Hopper" Hopkins ( IPA : [dʒɒn 'hɒpkɪnz] ) (born May 22, 1983 in Ramona , California ) is an American motorcycle racer .

Hopkins has preferred to start with the number 21 for years. As the son of English parents, he has both US citizenship and British citizenship .

Career

Early years

John Hopkins learned to ride a motorcycle on motocross bikes and won his very first race on a minibike in 1986 . In 1999 he finally switched to road racing.

MotoGP class

For the 2002 season John Hopkins came to WCM RedBull - Yamaha in the newly created MotoGP class, his teammate was the Australian veteran Garry McCoy . The team took the then still allowed, but far inferior 500 cc - two strokes . Hopkins finished the season with 58 points in a respectable 15th overall, 25 points ahead of teammate McCoy.

For the 2003 season, the American moved to the Suzuki factory team and competed in the season with a 990 cc four-stroke engine . His teammate was the 2000 world champion , compatriot Kenny Roberts junior . At first, John Hopkins couldn't get the results he had hoped for, which was probably mainly due to the inferior performance of his motorcycle. At the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi he was involved in an accident in the first corner for which he was blamed. He was then banned from a race. At the end of the season, Hopkins was 17th overall with 29 points, again better placed than his teammate.

The technical development of his Suzuki GSV-R continued for the 2004 season . Above all, the engine management has been improved, which significantly increased drivability. Towards the end of the year, the GSV-R showed a significant upward trend, but there were always technical problems that set the development of the motorcycle back. At the Japanese Grand Prix, John Hopkins was able to qualify for the first row on the front row, but was again involved in a starting accident. This time it was caused by Loris Capirossi , ironically one of the drivers Hopkins had rammed off the track the previous year. In the overall ranking he finished 16th this year.

The 2005 season denied John Hopkins for Suzuki, in turn, the team showed a clear upward trend, what you imputing especially the new technical director Paul Denning. At Donington Park , Hopkins led a race for the first time for a short time, and his best finish that year was fifth in Japan. The US-American finished 14th overall at the end of the season, his training performances this year were often considerably better than his placements in the race. John Hopkins was courted by several other manufacturers during the season, but chose to remain loyal to Suzuki and was therefore assured the role of number 1 driver.

In the 2006 season, John Hopkins got the Supersport World Champion of 2003 , the Australian Chris Vermeulen , a new teammates. He was able to achieve his first pole position at the Dutch TT in Assen . Hopkins benefited from the further developments on the motorcycle and the well-functioning Bridgestone tires and was regularly among the top ten, but it was not enough for the first podium. Two fourth places were his best results. In the overall standings, he took tenth place overall with 116 points.

Hopkins 2007 on Suzuki

The 2007 season denied Hopkins on Suzuki. After the technical regulations only allowed 800 instead of the previous 990 cm³ displacement , all manufacturers were forced to develop completely new motorcycles. In the first tests of the new machines, the Suzuki turned out to be very fast and was one of the secret favorites for the season. At the fourth round of the season, the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai , Hopkins achieved the first of four podium places of the season with third place. After that he was consistently in the top five and often just barely missed the podium. At the Czech Grand Prix , Hopkins finished second, and in the last race of the season in Valencia he was third. The season ended John Hopkins with 189 points as fourth in the world championship.

For the 2008 season, John Hopkins moved to the Kawasaki factory team after five years at Suzuki , where he signed a two-year contract. His teammate was the Australian Anthony West . Hopkins started the season well with seventh in Spain and fifth in Portugal , but then suffered several failures. In qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix in Assen, the American fell badly and suffered a fracture of his left ankle and two shin fractures , which forced him to take a break of three races. John Hopkins returned to the Czech Grand Prix and while consistently scoring points in the remaining seven races, he was only able to finish in the top ten once. At the San Marino Grand Prix , after quarreling with his wife and getting drunk the day before, he was unable to take part in the Friday training sessions, which his team initially kept secret, but later admitted. With 57 points, Hopkins finished 16th in the 2008 World Cup.

In January 2009, after much speculation, Kawasaki announced its immediate retirement from the MotoGP class. The Japanese cited the global economic crisis as the reason for this, which forced the plant to take cost-cutting measures. John Hopkins and his new teammate Marco Melandri were left without an employer and had to look for a new team. Nevertheless, both hoped that if the Kawasaki team were saved, they would continue to compete for The Greens . While Melandri found accommodation with Kawa successor Hayate , the media speculated early on that Hopkins would switch to the Superbike World Championship, which initially did not come true.

Due to the fall of Álvaro Bautista in training for the Qatar Grand Prix and the resulting injury break for the Spaniard, Suzuki signed John Hopkins as a substitute driver for the only Suzuki GSV-R left in the field. Hopkins made his first appearance at the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez. He finished this in 10th place and thus scored his first points for Suzuki in the 2011 season on his comeback.

Superbike World Championship

On March 20, 2009 it was officially confirmed that John Hopkins will compete in the 2009 season for the team of former Swedish Grand Prix driver Johan Stigefelt in the Superbike World Championship . He will start at the third event in Valencia, Spain, and drive a Honda CBR 1000 RR . His teammate will be Briton Leon Haslam . In favor of the American, the Stiggy Racing Honda team dissolved the existing contract with the Italian Roberto Rolfo , who had not been one hundred percent fit for a long time due to a shoulder injury .

AMA Superbike Championship

In 2010, Hopkins drove for the M4 Monster Suzuki team in the US AMA Superbike Championship . Due to an unhealed hand injury that made it impossible for him to operate the throttle adequately (Hopkins: "I had to use my entire arm to control the throttle"), he was unable to perform as usual here either. Due to his many physical problems, he decided to take a long break, during which he focused 100% on restoring his physical performance.

British Superbike Championship

In 2011 John Hopkins took part in the British Superbike Championship , in which he competed for the Cresent Suzuki team. Above all, he hopes that this will help him to contest a complete, successful motorcycle season again and thus be able to apply for a permanent place in the MotoGP class.

statistics

In the motorcycle world championship

season	class	team	motorcycle	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	Nice Race laps	Points	position
2002	MotoGP	Red Bull Yamaha WCM	Yamaha YZR 500	15th	-	-	-	-	-	58	15th
2003	MotoGP	Suzuki Grand Prix Team	Suzuki GSV-R	14th	-	-	-	-	-	29	17th
2004	MotoGP	Team Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki GSV-R	15th	-	-	-	-	-	45	16.
2005	MotoGP	Team Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki GSV-R	17th	-	-	-	-	-	63	14th
2006	MotoGP	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki GSV-R	17th	-	-	-	1	-	116	10.
2007	MotoGP	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki GSV-R	18th	-	1	3	-	2	189	4th
2008	MotoGP	Kawasaki Racing Team	Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR	15th	-	-	-	-	-	57	16.
2011	MotoGP	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki GSV-R	1	-	-	-	-	-	6th	21st
total				112	-	1	3	1	2	563

In the Superbike World Championship

season	team	motorcycle	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	Nice Race laps	Points	position
2009	Stiggy Racing Honda	Honda CBR 1000 RR	7th	-	-	-	-	-	17th	23.
2011	Samsung Crescent Racing	Suzuki GSX-R1000	2	-	-	-	1	-	20th	20th
2012	Crescent Racing	Suzuki GSX-R1000	20th	-	-	-	-	-	44	19th
total			29	-	-	-	1	-	81

References

Web links

Commons : John Hopkins  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

• John Hopkins on the Official Motorcycle World Championship website.
• John Hopkins on the World Superbike and Supersport World Championship official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kawasaki sign Hopkins from Suzuki. news.bbc.co.uk, July 12, 2007, accessed March 20, 2009 . 
2. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: How long does Kawasaki have to do without Hopkins? www.motorsport-total.com, June 27, 2008, accessed March 20, 2009 . 
3. ↑ Johannes Orasche: Hopkins in the Dilemma. www.motorsport-total.com, September 8, 2009, accessed March 20, 2009 . 
4. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: Hopkins had injuries again. www.motorsport-total.com, August 29, 2009, accessed on March 20, 2009 . 
5. ↑ Roman Wittemeier: Well: Kawasaki withdrawal is official! www.motorsport-total.com, January 9, 2009, accessed March 20, 2009 . 
6. ↑ Britta Weddige: Hopkins and Melandri: Who wants us? www.motorsport-total.com, January 6, 2009, accessed March 20, 2009 . 
7. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: Hopkins hopes for a Kawasaki rescue package. www.motorsport-total.com, January 13, 2009, accessed March 20, 2009 . 
8. ↑ Britta Weddige: Future plans: Hopkins promises a "blast". www.motorsport-total.com, March 11, 2009, accessed March 20, 2009 . 
9. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: Hopkins into the Superbike World Championship? www.motorsport-total.com, February 2, 2009, accessed on March 20, 2009 . 
10. ^ Roman Wittemeier: No chance for Hopkins: Rolfo gets fit. www.motorsport-total.com, February 3, 2009, accessed March 20, 2009 . 
11. ↑ Hopkins joins WSBK with Stiggy Honda. www.crash.net, March 20, 2009, accessed March 20, 2009 . 
12. ^ Stiggy confirms Rolfo exit. www.crash.net, March 20, 2009, accessed March 21, 2009 .