MotoGP 2002 - Round 1 - Suzuka

A day of unbelievably contrasting fortunes for the Red Bull Yamaha squad today at a wet Suzuka scene of the historic first GP featuring the new 990cc four-strokes and two-stroke 500s.

John Hopkins had an absolutely unforgettable debut, crashing out of the 21-lap race twice, yet he still celebrated his first GP with a remarkable 12th place.

He eventually ended up five laps behind race winner Valentino Rossi, but collected four points.

Unfortunately Garry McCoy crashed out of the race on lap three, the same lap when Hopkins tumbled out for the first time. Unlike his team-mate, the Australian's YZR was too badly damaged to continue.

JOHN HOPKINS 12th place - Four World Championship Points - "That was a pretty eventful debut. I got a good start but at the end of the third lap when I was trying to catch Nakano, I left my braking late for the chicane and ran onto the dirt and the bike just slid from underneath me. I managed to get going again and I caught up with a bunch of riders that included Katoh, Laconi and Capirossi. I was catching up with those guys pretty quickly but I guess I got a little bit ahead of myself. I then lost the front but the bike was still running, even though the fairing was damaged and I only had one foot peg.

"I pulled into the pits and saw there were only 16 riders left on the track, so we fixed the bike up and I went back out again. The quick shifter was broken so I was having too change gear with my left hand sometimes but after all that happened, too get a 12th and four points in my first race is a great feeling."

GARRY McCOY DNF - "I lost the front end in the second right-hander after turn one. I thought everything was going pretty easy but the front just went away and I was down. I actually had a good feeling from the Dunlop wet tyres but I really think the problem is in the right-hand corners. My right leg is just not strong enough at the moment. I'll try and be fit for the next race in South Africa."

Team Manager - Peter Clifford - "That was different. To score four points after falling out of the race twice is a different way to start a GP career. We hope that John doesn't continue in the same fashion. It was a great ride from John. At the moment, we just have to live through what is a difficult period for Garry."

Race Result	Championship Points
Rossi Ryo (1.5 secs) Checa (8 secs) Itoh (10 secs) Abe Barros Aoki Laconi Capirossi Katoh Harada Hopkins	Rossi - 25 Ryo - 20 Checa - 16 Itoh - 13 Abe - 11 Barros - 10 Aoki - 9 Laconi - 8 Capirossi - 7 Katoh - 6 Harada - 5 Hopkins - 4

Transcript from our live update page that was run during the race

Start from the bottom as uppermost text is last

Rossi takes the win with the fastest lap of the race on the final lap, 2m19.1
Last lap - Rossi still in front, Ryo 2nd, Rossi pulling out a gap, Ryo looks to have settled for 2nd now
Backmarkers out of the chicane, Rossi and Ryo side by side, but the Honda pulls out down the straight, two laps to run
Ukawa down, trying to get his machine started again
Ryo not letting up, fastest man on the track now, 2m19.2, and right back with Rossi. Nakano loses the rear on the two-stroke and out he goes
Rossi fastest man on lap 17, 2m19.7
Checa in third now from Itoh
McWilliams down, out of the race
Nakano just set the fastest lap, 2m19.8, on a two-stroke but well back in 9th position
Rossi in to the lead at the chicane under brakes, a risky move though, right on the edge of disaster
Ryo still holding on to the lead, Itoh and Checa still 3rd and 4th
Abe through on Ukawa for 5th and the first of the two-strokes
7 laps to run - Ryo from Rossi still, Itoh and Checa right with them also. Ukawa is 5th but quite a way back from the leading quartet
Ryo still leading from Rossi. Itoh 3rd. Rossi closing right up on Ryo on corner entry, but Ryo is quicker mid-turn and on the exit
Gibernau is down, he looked to be a winner, but down he goes. Bugger, he was on fire
Lap 12 of 21 - Ryo, Rossi, Gibernau, Itoh, Checa, Ukawa, Abe, McWilliams, Aoki
Rossi right on Ryo now, the Suzuki seems to drive better off the turns though
10 laps to go - race order - Ryo, Rossi, Gibernau, Itoh, Checa, Ukawa, Abe, McWilliams. Gibernau currently fastest, 2m20.1, Gibernau just backed it into the chicane from about 50 yards back, that was impressive
Gibernau trying hard now, just went past Itoh for 3rd. Suzuki, Honda, Suzuki is the top trio
The top four have closed right up now
Rossi catching right up to Ryo now and fastest again on lap 10, 2m20.2
Gibernau through on Checa for 4th
Rossi fastest man on lap 9, 2m20.5. Ryo still has a little ground over Rossi though.
Very wet, major water spray everywhere, and these boys are banked right over scraping at ridiculous speeds, but nobody has experienced a high speed crash yet in this race. They fallers have all seemed to have low speed get-offs
Rossi up in to 2nd at the final chicane, he has 1.3 seconds to catch up on race leader Akira Ryo though. Checa 4th and the fastest man on lap 8 with a 2m20.6
McWilliams the fastest man on the circuit during lap seven, but too far back to make a dent on the front runners
Roberts down.
Ryo escaping a little again, Itoh could be holding up Rossi a little.
Biaggi down!
Still Ryo from Itoh and Rossi. Jacque pulling in to the pits for his penalty, promoting Checa to 4th with 15 laps to run
Rossi through on Jacque for 3rd, Ryo still out in front from Itoh. Jacque 4th, Checa 5th, Gibernau 6th. Rossi fastest man again on lap four. Van Den Goorbergh in the pits
Rossi fastest again on lap three. Jacque has a stop/go penalty for a jump start, he is in 3rd
Rossi fastest man on lap two, in fourth now. Out in front it is still Ryo from Itoh
Hopkins off in to the dirt, but may be able to regain. McCoy down also
Itoh has closed up on Ryo now, Suzuki from Honda, both four-strokes
Ryo still leading from Itoh, Jacque, Checa, Rossi, Abe, Gibernau is the top seven as they start lap two
Ryo getting a gap already, only halfway around lap one!
Checa gets a great start but Jacque gets to the lead at the entry of turn one, Itoh comes out of turn one in front though, Ryo 2nd, Jacque 3rd, Checa 4th, Rossi 5th
On the start line
They are going around the circuit now on the warm up lap
Engines are being started ready for the warm up lap on the wet Suzuka circuit
Raining even heavier now, MotoGP race on soon

Sunday Reports - Race Report - Red Bull Yamaha Report - Marlboro Yamaha Report - Suzuki Report - Honda Report

Saturday Reports - Qualifying 2 - Marlboro Yamaha Report - Red Bull Report - Proton Team KR Report - Suzuki Report - Honda Report

Friday Reports - Qualifying 1 - Marlboro Yamaha - Red Bull Yamaha - Proton Team KR - Telefonica Movistar Suzuki