Hopkins eyes podium return in Barcelona

American John Hopkins is confident he can make a return to the podium in this weekend’s Catalunya GP in Spain.

The track near Barcelona is one of the favourites for the factory Suzuki rider and Hopkins believes his GSV-R 800 will be a competitive package after recent engine upgrades.

Hopkins finished fifth in last weekend’s Italian GP in Mugello using a latest spec Suzuki V4 motor for the first time. Recent improvements to mid-range acceleration were further enhanced in Mugello when he ran the latest update to improve corner entry stability.

And he told MCN: “It was good and the rideability of the bike is amazing. The new engine was better on corner entry.

“The way I can ride was much better and it was a big help in Mugello. It made it a lot less lively and we could get on the throttle earlier without it jumping and skipping. It just made it a lot easier to ride.”

Hopkins reckons he could have mounted a more serious challenge for the rostrum in Mugello had he not lost front tyre grip from the three-quarter mark as he lost contact with Ducati duo Alex Barros and Casey Stoner.

“I definitely wanted to be on the podium. I went out at the beginning and knew I had to make up time immediately because I knew that Valentino (Rossi) and Dani (Pedrosa) would be getting away real quick,” said the 24-year-old.

“I really pushed hard in those first couple of laps scrubbing the front real hard. I wanted to make as much ground as possible just trying to break fee from Loris (Capirossi) and the rest so I didn’t get passed down the front straight. I pushed the front over the edge.

“There was a harder compound we could have run. We just really didn’t have a lot of time to make the set-up. If I did it all over again I’d still run the same tyre as what I used because we’d not run the harder compound and didn’t know what it was going to be like.

“We changed the front forks for the race with some rebound damping and it really helped me getting into the corner and at mid apex. It just helped me turn the bike without any skipping or hopping around because with all the bumps around Mugello it gets a bit lively,” said Hopkins, who said he’d pushed his front tyre too much in trying to counter the top speed threat posed by Ducati on the long Mugello straight.

He added: “My fastest lap of the whole weekend was my second timed lap in the race. I pushed hard that lap and had a hell of a dogfight with Valentino in the beginning. We went back and forth at least four or fives times.

“Once Valentino and Dani got to the front I knew they could both do the lap times. I knew the pace was going to drop instantly once they had clear track in front of them. I hung onto Casey Stoner as long as I could but about three quarters through I was sliding the front everywhere.

“I probably could have made a pass on Casey but I wouldn’t have been able to pull a gap on a single lap to stop myself being passed by the Ducati on the straight.

“I was losing a lot of time on the front straight and I was going crazy on the brakes to make up what I could. The braking stability on the Suzuki is amazing.”

Hopkins said he settled for fifth having been wary of his Jerez experience when he crashed out of fourth place while pursuing compatriot Colin Edwards for a place on the podium.

“Jerez definitely played on my mind. I have a fighting chance to be in the top three in the championship now and Dani is not far away so I got to keep plugging away,” he said.

Looking ahead to Barcelona, he is confident the new engine upgrades and a change in his riding style will help him register only the second podium of his premier class in Sunday’s race (June 10, 2007).

He added: “I’ve been looking forward to Barcelona all year long as its one of my best tracks. I made some improvements in my riding style in Mugello that has really helped and obviously Suzuki has made tremendous steps.

“I’m still running it in hot into comers but I’m getting it stopped now and exiting how I should. Before I’d get it in hot, lose the apex and completely mess myself up.”