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John Hopkins (motorcycle racer) — WOI Encyclopedia Italia

28 Апр 2015 | Author: dima | Комментарии отключены

Contents

Early Years

began riding Motocross as a child and won his first race on a on 1986, switching to road full time in 1999. In he signed for the Red Bull Yamaha in MotoGP. riding a 500 cc two-… where he finished 15th on the In 2003. he signed for Suzuki to their 990 cc four-… GSV-R. with the team for the 2004 and seasons.

MotoGP Career

2002

The season saw Hopkins join the WCM Yamaha team alongside race winner Garry The team was using Yamaha motorcycles on lease from Overall the YZR500 was considered to be that ear, due to a change in the allowing 990 cc 4-… motorcycles to against 500 cc 2-… motorcycles.

the 2-strokes held (on average) a 10 kg advantage over the 4-strokes, had between 30 and 50 less hp depending on the configuration used for the racetrack. finished the season ranked with 58 points, which put him 25 clear of his teammate McCoy.

2003

In 2003 Hopkins the Suzuki factory team. year he would ride a 990 cc V4 In 2003 John was teamed 2000 world 500gp Kenny Roberts Jr Although he was a 4-… this year, the didn’t seem to come as one have expected. There are theories for this, including the lack of HP and it’s tendency to out tires faster than bikes.

This year also saw involved in a turn 1 crash at the grand prix in Motegi, he was of causing this crash, and was for one race. This suspension in a DNS(did not start) at the Malaysian prix. Also noteworthy for the season was the crash in Italy Kenny Roberts Jr’s Suzuki suffered an engine failure and the bike launched Hopkins, putting both ‘s out of the race.

At the end of the season, Hopkins finished in place with 29 points. finish put him 2 places and 7 points of his teammate Kenny Roberts Jr.

The technology and technical advancement of the was further developed in 2004. of the refinements took place in the management package, making the easier to ride. Towards the end of the the GSV-R was showing clear allowing Hopkins to move up the

Unfortunately it also saw several failures, which effectivly the hard work to develop the Having qualified on the front row at he was eliminated in a first-corner crash. Of is that John was crashed by Loris Capirossi. one of the same he himself had hit at the very same 1 at Motegi in 2003.

Overall he finished 16th.