Hopper to RIDE.....
 

:rockout::rockwoot::pat:



"The Californian will ride a Stiggy Honda CBR1000RR in the World Superbike Championship, beginning with the next round in Valencia."

TWO Americans fighting for the WSBK Championship...can it get better!? :D


March 19, 2009 - 12:39 PM
Hopkins To Stiggy Honda
John Hopkins will race World Superbike in 2009
By: Paul Carruthers

After a tumultuous off-season in which he saw his factory Kawasaki MotoGP ride disappear, John Hopkins is set to go racing again. The Californian will ride a Stiggy Honda CBR1000RR in the World Superbike Championship, beginning with the next round in Valencia.

Hopkins will make his World Superbike debut alongside teammate Leon Haslam, April 3-5 in Valencia Spain. He will test prior to the first race at Almeria in Spain.

Hopkins was set to start the second year of a two-year contract with Kawasaki when the factory announced on January 9 that they were pulling out of the MotoGP World Championship. He has since settled with the team.

Hopkins finished on the podium four times in the 2007 MotoGP Championship en route to finishing fourth in the title chase on a factory Suzuki. Hopkins then moved to Kawasaki, but ended the 2008 championship in 16th place after suffering with myriad of injuries. His teammate Anthony West was worse off, ending the season 18th on the ZX-RR.

Although he doesn't have any World Superbike experience, Hopkins does have racing experience with production-based sportbikes - with three victories and a title in AMA 750cc Supersport and two victories and a championship in AMA Formula Xtreme in his resume. Those wins and titles came on Suzukis before Hopkins made the jump to the World Championship, starting in 500cc Grand Prix racing in 2002 when he left AMA racing to ride a Red Bull-backed Yamaha owned by Bob MacLean.

According to sources, Hopkins will continue to be backed by Monster Energy, Alpinestars, Arai and Spy Optics.



http://www.cyclenews.com/articles/ro...o-stiggy-honda

Good for John. I always like his style of riding but he never had decent equipment under him to give him a shot at winning.

Best chance he's had...Haslam better up his game :D

:pat::rockout:

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Good for him.

I'm glad he found a ride.

I'm also glad to see another talented American on the grid.

I think it is a bit premature to say he is fighting for the championship. Hopper needs to prove himself first. :idk:

Haslam better pick it up:idk: Hell Hopper knows most of the tracks. Once he gets used to the tires and finds a baseline set up Checa and Kiyonari better step it up.

Really, a couple weekends to get used to his bike and crew will see Hopkins running well and even though the talent level is pretty deep know I wouldn't be suprised to see him podium or at least be a consistent threat to podium...

A YEEEE of little faith ;)

prove that his injuries are healed yes... prove that he can ride? no... not IMHO... dudes always had shitty bikes... even the suzy was shit when he rode it.

I think he needs to get his confidence back... and I'm glad to see him in SBK... less reason to watch MotoGP IMO

I think the big difference between GP & WSB is ease of setup, in WSB all you do is adjust the suspension and pick a tire, which IMO is much easier than additionally having to setup engine management and gear ratios in the transmission.

So, I think we'll get to see how fast Hopper is, and not so much that the bike sucked.

I think if he stays healthy he'll be in the top ten easy

He seems to be at least a top ten rider, but I'll have to wait and see if he's a top 3 rider.

This is pretty cool. WSBK is going to gain tons of popularity in the US this season it seems.

Yeah I'll give you that.

:idk:All you have to do is set up the suspension and pick a tire??? All you have to do? Have any clue how adjustable these WSBK spec bikes are? They have electronics too just not to the level of MotoGP.

I just didn't want you to think it was easy...:twfix:

well shit... lets hope they don't try jump starting them with a car... :lol:

But you have all of the same if not more chassis adjustments in GP.

Imagine trying to pick springs and damping, while sorting out what gear set you're going to use, setting up engine braking, and tuning the engine.

And I wasn't really saying setting up a wsbk was easy, just a lot easier than a GP bike.

I will give you that RSV, but the WSBK guys don't typically have 8 factory technicians for support either. Just a rider and some crew to try and figure out the setup. Maybe one suspension tech. So simpler yes, easier...I don't know. More rider dependent that is for sure...

good on him!

i agree that the hondas had better step it up. Cant let a rookie show them around... oh wait...

Is it possible to buy an online subscription to WSB? Similar to the High Res subscription you can buy at MotoGP.com? I honestly hate to say it...but....MotoGP is losing it's luster for me...the technology is cool...but the racing has SUCKED for the last couple of years. (Give or take a race or two...Laguna Seca last year being the one off exciting race.) It seems like all the GOOD racing is in WSB. :idk:

Same here....

And if Rossi wants a piece of that pie, say goodbye to Moto GP.