WSB Assen: Hopkins: 'The most excruciating pain of my life'

John Hopkins remains in hospital in Assen following his crash in First practice yesterday. The American high sided his Stiggy Honda resulting in a dislocated hip and cracked Femur. He is scheduled to fly San Francisco this evening to see specialist Dr Ting where he could undergo further surgery on Monday if necesary.

The former MotoGP man who broke his ankle and leg onboard the 800cc Kawasaki ZX-RR in 2008 is expected to miss the next two rounds of the championship at Monza and Kyalami and make his return at Salt Lake City at the end of May.

Hopkins said: “It looks like I am continuing my bad luck here in Assen two years in a row. I didn’t even get five laps under my belt this time. I had a huge high-side and landed feet first, which dislocated my hip and cracked the top of my femur. For about three hours, until they placed me in the operating room and put my hip back into place, I was in the most excruciating pain I have ever been in my life.

“I was really motivated to race here this weekend and initially I felt really good from the moment I jumped on the bike, but this is just bad luck. Now I will just have to recuperate The biggest problem will be the muscles. All the ligaments and muscles around the femur are torn, which is a lot worse then actual broken bones. If there was no muscle damage, I would be back racing in two weeks, now we will have to wait for the proper evaluation”.