PODIUM FINISH FOR HOPKINS IN CHINA
 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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