Rizla Suzuki's John Hopkins finishes 4th place in MotoGP 2007 season opener at Qatar, even with injuries. 2 months ago I predicted a strong season for John Hopkins, a guy from my neck of the woods here in this small southern California town. I became doubtful he would finish well (or even start) in this first race after his high speed get-off in Qatar a month ago. Even Hopkins was doubtful, stating after the race

"I am really happy with the way the race went after coming to this event in quite a bit of pain. I was never sure how I'd ride or even if I'd ride! "

Hopkins started off well, running in 3rd place at one point in the race, and fought a long battle with Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa. Hopkins tried to make a pass for the last remaining podium spot on the last lap but couldn't get around Padrosa and finished 1/2 second behind him in fourth place.

Final Results:

1 Casey Stoner (Aus) Ducati 43mins 02.788secs
2 Valentino Rossi (Ita) Yamaha 43:05.626
3 Dani Pedrosa (Spa) Honda 43:11.318
4 John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki 43:11.859
5 Marco Melandri (Ita) Honda 43:20.221
6 Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 43:21.435
7 Chris Vermeulen (Aus) Suzuki 43:25.704
8 Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 43:25.845
9 Alex Barros (Bra) Ducati 43:28.749
10 Shinya Nakano (Jpn) Honda 43:31.244
11 Alex Hofmann (Ger) Ducati 43:37.817
12 Olivier Jacque (Fra) Kawasaki 43:45.736
13 Kenny Roberts (USA) KR212V 43:45.765
14 Toni Elias (Spa) Honda 43:45.777
15 Sylvain Guintoli (Fra) Yamaha 43:54.427

Image courtesy rizla-suzuki-motogp.co.uk