Injury hampers Hopkins at Phillip Island
Added on Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor
Hopkins is still struggling with injury problems that stem back to Assen.
John Hopkins was hampered by injury once again as Kawasaki continued their testing for the new season in Australia today.
The America, who is still feeling the pain following a series of crashes in 2008, completed a gruelling 76-lap session at Phillip Island near Melbourne despite the pain of a fractured ankle, posting a best lap time of 1:33.3.
After the test the 25 conceded that he was still far from peak physical shape.
“Every time I change gear the tendons in my ankle rub across the metal plate that was inserted to fix the bones, and this causes the ankle to swell up a lot,” he admitted. “My knee also kept locking out, especially on the left-hand corners, so I’m not in great physical shape.”
Abandoning the test was not an option for Hopkins however, with new crew Naoya Kaneko working on preperations for 2009.
Kaneko has been brought in by Kawasaki to turn around the team’s dismal performances in last season’s championship and already, Hopkins has been impressed with what he has seen.
“We communicate together very well and we’ve definitely made some improvements to the bike,” he said. “Naoya is very methodical in his approach, but he also has a fresh way of looking at the problems and, as a result, we’ve made some big steps forward already. Now I just need more time on track, injuries permitting.”
New teammate Marco Melandri bested Hopkins’ time, recording a 1:32.5 lap equal to his best time in last month’s race at the same circuit with Ducati. The Italian continued to adapt the Ninja ZX-RR to his riding style, although a lack of front end feeling was a persistent problem over the course of his 93 turns of the Phillip Island circuit.
The fastest rider of the day for Kawasaki however wastest rider Olivier Jacque, who was the only rider using the new Kawasaki chassis and electronics package designed to improve power delivery,. He clocked a best time of 1:32.4 in the session.
