Why John Hopkins was injured at Brno

MotoGP News
Date: 13/August/2011

When a motorcycle racer crashes the chance of injury is usually in the lap of the gods. Once physical contact with the motorcycle is lost, there is very little a rider can do.

But John Hopkins believes his actions, after falling, were to blame for the nasty hand injury that ruled the American out of his second MotoGP appearance of the season, at Brno in the Czech Republic.

After an impressive performance in Friday practice Hopkins lost the front of his Rizla Suzuki early in Saturday's wet practice session, sending him sliding down the road at high speed. It was then that Hopkins made his 'stupid mistake'.

Racing full time in the British Superbike Championship this season, on tracks with far less run-off area, 'Hopper' instinctively used his extremities to try and slow down as much as possible - fearing he would hit a wall.

He didn’t need to. The Brno circuit, like most MotoGP tracks, has ample run-off - and pressing his hands onto the asphalt proved a disastrous decision when his right-hand dug into the gravel trap.

Hopkins, 28, said: "I must apologise to the whole team for making such a stupid mistake. It was the smallest crash under braking in the wet conditions and as I slid along I kept my hand on the ground to try and slow me down, but as soon as I hit the gravel it went in and mangled my hand right up."

Hopkins broke three fingers in the incident and will require surgery.

"The index and middle finger are just normal fractures that probably wouldn’t have kept me off the bike, but the third finger has separated and split down the middle from the knuckle," he explained.

"It’s not a case of pain, strength or anything like that, it’s simply that I can’t bend the finger or both bones could come through the skin, so it would have been impossible to hold on to the bike."

Adding to the sense of 'what if' was the fact that MotoGP Championship leader Casey Stoner had walked away unharmed from a near identical fall at the very same turn.

"It was on exactly the same corner that Casey had done the same thing at the start of the session, but John was just less lucky and as he entered the gravel trap the angle of his hand meant that the impact folded his fingers," confirmed Suzuki team manager Paul Denning.

Hopkins, who finished tenth as a stand-in for injured Suzuki rider Alvaro Bautista at Jerez earlier this year, now has until the end of August to recover before his next BSB event.

And Hopkins, currently second in the BSB series, insists that his plans for a full time MotoGP return in 2012 won’t be derailed by the injury.

“This is just another small setback in my journey to get back to full time MotoGP," he declared. "This is not the last time you’ll see me at a Grand Prix, I’m still destined to be back here, whether it’s this year or next I don’t know, but I will be back here!”

Hopkins, a full time MotoGP rider from 2002-2008, claimed his best ever MotoGP finish with second at the 2007 Czech Republic Grand Prix, also with Suzuki.