Hopkins Stay With Suzuki
Wednesday, August 31st, 2005 at 8:29 pm by angrybob
Ugh. I was realy hoping he was going to make a move to a more competitive team. There is either a lot of loyalty from Hopkins or a lot of cash to Hopkins…both are good things. Still, the kid is only twenty-two years old (I didn’t know he was that young) and has plenty of time to develop his career. The only risk is that if he continuously has poor finishes, his prospects may go away. Ruben Xaus comes to mind. Anyway, from Team Suzuki:
Hopkins and Suzuki partnership continues
Suzuki and John Hopkins have agreed to enter into a new two-year contract, which will see MotoGP’s youngest rider racing the ever-improving Suzuki GSV-R in the 2006 and 2007 seasons.
The exciting Anglo-American star has been with Suzuki since 2003 and his hard riding style has been instrumental in the advancements made to Suzuki’s prototype race bike during that time.
At 22-years-of-age, Hopkins is one of the brightest stars and most promising racers in the MotoGP field. Suzuki believe Hopkins has the potential to be a future World Champion and is delighted to have secured his services for a further two years – against strong opposition from other manufacturers.
Hopkins confirmed the continued partnership shortly after last weekend’s Czech Republic Grand Prix at Brno. No announcement has been made as yet who will partner him on the Suzuki next year.
John Hopkins:
“It’s really great to get the deal all done and sorted out and to be able to concentrate on the rest of the year. To keep the same crew members plays a big, big part in my decision to stay with Suzuki. I’ve worked with them now for three years and that has been pretty special, I’ve got a really good relationship with them.
“To stay with Suzuki is definitely an honour. I’ve been here a while now, basically I’ve been with the GSV-R from day one – day in and day out. I’d like to say that I have put the majority of my input into developing the bike that I am riding today. I have every reason to believe that Suzuki is going to get it right and we are going to run at the front. The pride in riding a bike that I’ve helped to develop and being able to ride at the front gives you so much more satisfaction than going to another bike that may already have been developed by somebody else.
“I look forward to my future here at Suzuki and definitely plan on putting in my best seasons so far for them over the next two years.”
There is more from the above link, but this was the important stuff. Two things come to mind:
1. There was an implied battle to sign Hopkins (read: other manufacturers expressed interest) and he chose Suzuki???
2. What exactly is an ‘Anglo-American’??? Is that fancy PC talk for ‘cracker’?
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angrybob,
I can’t blame Hopkins for staying at Suzuki if they threw a bunch of money his way. And although Team Suzuki isn’t doing too well currently, there is no reason to believe they won’t improve. Team Suzuki is a highly qualified factory effort and I’ll continue to cheer them on.
(It seems to me that this year Suzuki focused their resources on their “showroom” racing series, like AMA, WSB, and BSB. It has apparently paid off too, as the GSX-R1000 is doing very well.)
As to your question regarding “Anglo-American”, it refers to his ties to both Great Britain and the United States. He was born in CA, but his parents are from Acton in West London. But I like your explanation better!
- terrymoto