MotoGP: John Hopkins to complete night test in America

John Hopkins has confirmed he is to take part in a special test session under floodlights in America later this year as part of the assessment into plans to stage the 2008 Qatar MotoGP race at night.

The factory Suzuki rider met with senior representatives of Musco Lighting – the company who has landed the contract to light the Losail International Circuit – at last weekend’s Misano MotoGP race.

And John Hopkins has confirmed to MCN he will take part in a night test under floodlights at the Fontana NASCAR track, which was a project also completed by Musco.

Qatar is set to make motorcycling history by becoming the first race staged under floodlights on March 9, 2008 and bosses are leaving no stone unturned in making sure the groundbreaking project goes ahead without a glitch.

A test session is planned in late October or November under lights in Qatar, with next February’s IRTA test session the final dress rehearsal.

John Hopkins, who has scored two successive podiums in Brno and Misano, told MCN: “I met with the lighting guys in Misano and they do a lot of the lighting in American NASCAR.

“I live 20 minutes down the road from the Fontana track and they also race bikes there, so during the winter they said they might want me to go out on a street bike and do some experimenting as well.

“I’d be happy to do that. The night race in Qatar has just got to be safe. The Safety Commission has got to work towards a good agreement and they definitely need to make sure shadows aren’t apparent. They need to do a lot.”

No date has yet been fixed for John Hopkins’ Fontana test.