John Hopkins turns down Repsol Honda and Tech 3

MCN understands that John Hopkins has turned down approaches from Repsol Honda and Monster Yamaha Tech 3 to ride in next weekend’s British MotoGP round at Silverstone.

HRC apparently approached Hopkins’ British Superbike team boss Paul Denning to see if the American could replace injured Spaniard Dani Pedrosa at Silverstone.

Sources told MCN that Suppo spoke to Denning at the Montmelo circuit near Barcelona last night ahead of tomorrow’s Catalunya MotoGP race. And it understood Hopkins also declined a chance to replace Colin Edwards in the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team after the American broke his right collarbone in a practice crash at the Catalunya circuit in Spain yesterday (Friday).

Hopkins is currently under contract with the Samsung Crescent Suzuki squad in British Superbikes and is second in the series behind Honda rider Shane Byrne after an impressive start to the 2011 campaign.

He made a shock MotoGP comeback earlier this season in Jerez when he replaced injured Spaniard Alvaro Bautista and finished in a respectable 10th place in a rain-hit encounter.

Hopkins is understood to want to focus his efforts on the BSB championship while also working on securing future wild card rides with Suzuki later in the season. A deal for the Californian to ride a factory GSV-R alongside Bautista in the Brno race in August is close to be finalising, as was reported in the May 25 issue of MCN. For more on this story, see the June 8 issue of Motorcycle News.