[deez]

I've been following John Hopkins in GP since last year. He has been beating his team mate, and former World Champion KJR in GP. At Brno he beat Kenny by almost 20 seconds.

17. John Hopkins, Suzuki, -55.677 seconds
20. Kenny Roberts, Suzuki, -74.524 seconds

And here is the tally for the year.

16. Hopkins, 22
23. Roberts, 7

Is Kenny falling or is Hopkins really this good? John is tied with Kiyonari at 20 years old, being the youngest riders in the paddock. John got a good start at 19 and shows some promise. Since KJR and Hopper are on equal machinery, I would say that the Hopper has been handing KJR his ass. Someone posted a link to a Noyes article where he said that if KJR was on a good bike, he'd be at the front. Well what does that say about Hopkins then? I think the Suzuki is on par with the Kawasaki being the 2 sh1ttiest bikes in the paddock.

[Baketech]

Ditching his girl would probably help him as a pro athlete. Her negativism cannot be a good motivator for him......just being around this kind of crap all day probably has him believing in it.....

Snipped from the Brno entry of her blog:
A few bikes retired, both Protons did and Chris Burns retired eventually too. And the Suzuki's? I'm not going to say anything bad, but I'm not going to say anything good either. LOL our intention is to always stay postive, but sometimes that just goes right out the window. How can you be completely positive when it's always a let down? At least the boys managed to finish the race, unfortunately in the back. I doubt if anyone can't guess the morale in the garage. C'MON SUZUKI, PRODUCE A DECENT BIKE FOR THE RIDERS!!!!!! If the s&^t stinks, throw it out! It's Ducati's first year and they get podiums? HHHhhhmmmmmmmm.....Sarcastic? Maybe. Truth, yes! Be positive, be positive, be positive!!!!!

[deez]

Hopper needs to get away from KJR, King Kenny should be called King bitcher, actually he and Biaatchi should go bowling together. Kenny's attitude has been very poor since his championship in '00, always complaining about the bike. Either go to another mfr or shut up. Hopefully he won't ruin the kid.

[BDA116]

Robert's problem is more his attitude.
He's pulling a Ru$$ell on the 'Zuke, and not really giving it his all anymore. He knows it is a pile, and knows it won't help his career to override it. Roberts was consistently beating Sete by large margins when they were teammates, and look what he can do on almost equal machinery to Rossi's?
Roberts has an attitude and morale problem (surprise, surprise), that's it. If he had a good ride, he would be right up there.
Hopkins has nothing to lose by overriding the SlowZuki. He's hoping that by showing that he'll try no matter what he's on, he'll pick up a better ride.
Hopkins really didn't amount to much in the AMA.
In 2000, he won the 750SS title by 3 points over Damon Buckmaster. In FX, he had 0 wins and finished 6th overall behind Kleetus, Jake Zemke and Josh Hayes, to name a few. His teammate did win a race, though. In 600SS, he finished 37th.
2001, he won the FX title over Bucky by 1 point. and finished 8th in 600SS again behind Zemke and Hayes.
There were and still are many American riders better than Hopkins still in the AMA.
He got the GP ride over there mainly because of political pressure and the fact that Red Bull wanted an American rider at the time. He had John Ulrich pulling every string he could to get him any ride possible in GP.

[deez]

Hey BDA, how old was he when he won those championships?

[BDA116]

My guess is that even you could do the math on that.
But, since you're stuck on his sorry @ss for some reason:
Nicky is a year and a half older, right?
So, go back to 1998: Nicky is fourth overall in 600SS.
1999? Nicky wins 600SS.
And at the tender young age of 21 wins AMA Superbike.
750SS is glorified club racing, and Hopkins only barely squeaked a title, at the same basic age as Nicky's 600SS title.
FX was really the same up until a couple years ago, and Hopkins wins by a puny point with Suzuki's full support behind him in a series that was really a half step above 750.
The 600SS has always been one of the best series with the best riders, and he flat out sucked there.
You may love him and all, but Hopkins has nowhere near the talent and ability as Nicky.

[deez]

LOL, this isn't a John vs. Nicky thread genius, even you should be able to tell that. I think he is doing quite well, he is beating excellent riders, and the people in front of him have better machinery for the most part. I think Edwards is in the same book.


1. Rossi, 212
2. Gibernau, 178
3. Baiggi, 141
4. Capirossi, 97
5. Bayliss, 96
6. Checa, 78
7. Ukawa, 74
8. Barros, 71
9. Hayden, 67
10. Nakano, 65
11. Jacque, 55
12. Tamada, 47
13. Edwards, 46
14. Haga, 33
15. Norick Abe, 24
16. Hopkins, 22
17. McWilliams, 18
18. Aoki, 17
19. Melandri, 15
20. Kiyonari, 14
21. McCoy/Hofmann, TIE, 8
23. Roberts, 7
24. Yukio Kagayama, 4
25. Pitt, 3