Buzzin MotoGP

Kawasaki Name Replacement For Hopkins At The US MotoGP

Joy Ryder - Monday 14.07.08, 14:17pm

Jamie Hacking, the AMA Superbike rider, will be making his debut at the Leguna Seca round of the Moto GP Championship for the injured John Hopkins and the Kawasaki team.

Hacking is a three time AMA Champion, and although he is now an American citizen, the 37-year-old was actually born in the North of England where he lived until he was 9-years-old.

The Kawasaki Competition Manager said,

“Given his results in this year’s AMA Superbike championship, Jamie was the obvious choice for Kawasaki when the factory started looking for a temporary replacement for John Hopkins.

We are looking forward to seeing what he can do on our bike at Leguna Seca, especially after he broke the lap record at Kawasaki’s Autopolis circuit in Japan during two days of testing on the Ninja ZX-RR this week.

One big advantage that Jamie has is that he knows the track extremely well, and I think that will count in his favour, as it will allow him to focus completely on the bike during the race weekend.

Roger Lee set a hard target last year by finishing as the first American across the line in tenth place, but I’m sure that Jamie is heading to the USGP determined to do even better! I’m sure that he will do a good job for us at Leguna.”

So far this season, Hacking has already been on the podium six times and he is currently running in fourth position in the Championship standings.

Meanwhile, Anthony West finished the German MotoGP in tenth position yesterday for the Kawasaki team despite crashing out earlier in the race.

In Friday practice, West suffered a huge crash which left the rider with what was thought to be a badly bruised back. After undergoing x-rays on the Saturday evening they revealed that he had in fact fractured vertebrae, which happened to be the same as Hopkins suffered at his Catalunya accident.

The 26-year-old, struggled with his injuries during the Sunday morning warm-up session but struggled through to be rewarded with his tenth place. He will now receive treatment on his back ready for the next weekend’s Leguna Seca Moto GP.