John Hopkins sidelined in Brno

Suzuki Team Manager Paul Denning says John Hopkins was left feeling 'devastated' with his forced withdrawal from Brno, with the American dislocating two fingers during a practice fall at Turn 3. It was quickly apparent that the injuries occurred would rule Hopkins out of the running for the rest of the weekend, an sour end to his event.

"Saturday morning’s injury is a huge disappointment to all of us at Rizla Suzuki and of course mostly to John," said Denning. "He is completely devastated that he is not able to compete in the Grand Prix, especially as his form yesterday was extremely promising.

“He was just building up to speed very gradually in the wet conditions and, on the first lap that he tried to push a little bit harder, he made a simple mistake and folded the front. 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.

"This caused a substantial break to one finger and further damage to another. If the injury had been his left hand he would be on the GSV-R this afternoon, but to control a MotoGP bike and expect to be competitive with that injury to his throttle and braking hand is completely unrealistic."