Hopkins signs up with Stiggy
Added on Friday, March 20th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Hopkins signs up with Stiggy
John Hopkins has secured his immediate future by securing a ride with Stiggy Honda in the World Superbikes championship.
The American was in limbo after his former team Kawasaki pulled out of the 2009 MotoGP championship, leaving him and teammate Marco Melandri without a ride for the coming season.
Melandri later secured a ride with the single-rider privateer team that eventually emerged from the Kawasaki wreckage but Hopkins was left out of the project.
But the 25-year-old has now secured a seat in World Superbikes and will race alongside Britain’s Leon Haslam for Stiggy Honda at Valencia on April 5.
“John is very happy that all his personal sponsors are continuing with him, Monster Energy, Alpinestars, Arai and Spy Optics,” Hopkins’ manager Bob Moore.
“Judging by the first race, it seems like the bike is pretty competitive,” he added. “Obviously we just want to be in a position to get John over there and racing. It seems like a good bike. Everybody else was, ‘how much money do you have?’ Things are tough, even though it’s John Hopkins. We feel it will give John a good solid baseline to hopefully get on the box and get some wins eventually.”
Moore also revealed that Hopkins had settled his contract with Kawasaki amicably, stating; “We’ve settled our differences amicably and both sides are happy.”
The signing also means that Hopkins will be at least partly reunited with last season’s Kawasaki teammate Anthony West, who now rides for Stiggy Honda in the World Supersport class.
