MotoGP 2006 - Round Three

John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen raced their Rizla Suzuki GSV-Rs to sixth and 10th place respectively at today’s Dutch TT in Assen, Holland.
Hopkins got off to a great start from his pole position and was in second place behind the Yamaha of Colin Edwards for the first third of the race. As the race developed and grip became an important issue, Hopkins was unable to stay the front running pace, but the never-say-die attitude of the Anglo-American saw him fight all the way to the line to claim sixth place and 10 World Championship points.

Vermeulen also got off to a good start and was battling for fourth place early on, but his pace deteriorated sooner than he expected and he was forced to use all his race-craft to bring the bike home in 10th.

Today’s race was watched by 91,500 spectators all of whom enjoyed warm and sunny conditions. The race was won by current World Championship leader Nicky Hayden, as Edwards crashed on the last corner of the race after leading for the previous 25 laps.

The MotoGP circus now takes the short journey to England for round nine of the championship as the riders prepare to line up on the grid at Donington Park on Sunday 2nd July.

John Hopkins:
“I guess we can say that we did what we could. The bike worked well at the beginning of the race, we got away pretty good and it seemed to be too easy just hanging with Colin. We were doing the best we could but the bike just started to slide around, and when you are on the side of the tyre so much – like you are here – it can really affect you if you and unfortunately I dropped back. It would have been nice to see Colin win his first race, but it was not to be and his crash on the last corner lifted me to sixth. We must take the positives out of the weekend and move on to my home-away-from-home Grand Prix at Donington. I can’t wait for that, I’m looking forward to it right now!”

Chris Vermeulen:
“The beginning of the race was fine and I was fighting with the front guys early on, the bike felt really good. But after about nine or 10 laps I really started to struggle with front grip and the performance dropped off quite a lot. It was difficult to ride at the end and I was lucky enough to bring it home in the top 10 and score some points. Hopefully we will learn from our mistakes and improve for Donington.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“John and Chris are both disappointed with today’s results, but we have to manage expectation and take the positives from the weekend – and there are plenty! Both riders suffered from a lack of grip for different reasons but clearly Bridgestone did a great job here this weekend when you look at Shinya’s result and his gap to the winner. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP has been stepping forward bit-by-bit and we have to realise that it is not easy to jump up to podium pace – there is still a lot of work to do and we have to take things forward as quickly as possible.
“The whole team thinks that the Donington circuit is going to suit the nature of our bike a whole lot better than it did at Assen this weekend. Our thoughts and focus are already on getting everything prepared to get the best out of the tyres, bike and riders in a few days time in the UK.”