If there has been a rider that has always suffered tremendously from injuries which in turn conditioned in his racing career that has to be John Hopkins.
The popular American racer has barely had a season that hasn’t been marred by some sort of serious injury, often more than one, that has taken a toll on his body and for a while he even admitted he once needed to turn to alcohol to take away the physical pain.
This last year in World Superbikes has been another extremely painful one for Hopkins who started the season after six surgeries and a finger amputation only to break his hand in pre-season testing and then hurt his hip in a crash at the Parabolica in that ill-fated Monza round.
Hopper has been quietly and stoically riding through the pain barrier for months and his race results are a mirror of what he has been going through which culminated with him deciding to withdraw from the last round of season at Magny-Cours.
Now the Suzuki rider has decided to take as much time off from racing as he needs to return to full fitness before deciding what he’ll be doing in the future.
“I have really struggled with my hip since the crash at Monza and I know that it is a priority to get my health sorted before I can even think about racing again.
I didn’t want to pledge myself to the FIXI Crescent Suzuki team for 2013 and then not be able to give 100% because the injury is a constant worry, so although this is a difficult decision it is the correct one.
I will be going back to America for a bunch of tests and then we’ll decide what the best course of action is.
If that is a hip replacement or something similar, then that is what I am prepared to do to make sure I can get my health and fitness back.
At the moment the injury is influencing everything I do in my home, personal and racing life, so I need to get it sorted out properly.
I still have the desire and passion to race against the world’s best riders but every time I have pumped myself up to go for it this season, the hip has quickly and painfully reminded me that I need to be careful – and that’s no way to go racing.
Everyone at the team has been very supportive this year, because they know what I’ve been through, so I want to send my thanks to them for all their encouragement and backing.
I’d like to also thank all the racing fans and my personal sponsors – in particular Arai, Alpinestars and Monster who have been with me for so long – they have all been so positively behind me, I’m sorry that it’s not worked out this year, but I really do hope to be back!” Paul Denning – Team Principal added: “We all saw what a formidable competitor John Hopkins is throughout 2011 – in BSB, the Silverstone WSBK wildcard race and on the Suzuki MotoGP machine.
He’s not a prolific crasher by any means – nearly every rider on the grid crashed in the Philip Island tests! – but John has just suffered ridiculous bad luck and has managed to create new injuries or severely aggravate old ones every time there has been an incident.
It’s an indication of his talent that John has been somewhere close to the best riders on lap times in WSBK even with the restrictions he’s had to cope with.
John needs to get himself fully healthy, allow his body to recover in the proper timescales and refresh his mind from the constant pain caused by these injuries.
He’s been racing at the top level since he was 16 years old, and it’s time to give himself the chance to recover.
If, following that process, John feels motivated and ready to return to racing he knows he only has to call and we’ll be at the track straight away with a bike for him to test.
On behalf of the whole Crescent Suzuki family – thank you John and we really hope that 2013 is the beginning of a great future.
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