Brno MotoGP Reaction: Hopkins hails Stoner after career best result

American John Hopkins claimed his best ever MotoGP result today in Brno before paying tribute to the performance of runaway championship leader Casey Stoner.
Hopkins finished a distant second to better his previous best result of third in Shanghai earlier this season, but he was powerless to get within striking distance of the in-form Aussie.

Hopkins quickly passed Dani Pedrosa to begin his pursuit of Stoner, but it was all to no avail, even though he managed to keep Stoner to within 1.113s after eight laps.
Hopkins, who will move to Kawasaki in 2008, said: “There might be a track or two where me might be able to get him but until then he’s on fire. Hats off to him because today he rode great, as he has been all year long. He didn’t put a wheel wrong so hats off to him.”

Hopkins said he realised his chase was going to be a futile one after ten laps, when he eased his pace with a safe second in the bag as he was well clear of compatriot Nicky Hayden.

But he was still delighted to claim his best result in his 90th premier class race.
“I’m really, really happy with it. I got off the line and got around Dani pretty quick and that was my main objective. I wanted to be in second place by turn three because I knew Casey would be in first. I just put my head down after that and tried to hang with him but he had an unbelievable pace. He hadn’t made a mistake all weekend. I was pushing the front and pushing the rear and absolutely pushing the Bridgestones to the limit. That limit is pretty high up and they worked unbelievable. I kept pushing hard and after about lap ten I just had to pull it back a little to conserve second, “said the 24-year-old.

Despite his big money move to Kawasaki for next season, Hopkins said his result proved he is still 100 per cent focused on performing for Suzuki.

He added: “It’s great to get this result for Suzuki. It means a lot having had the last five years and never got a podium, so it means a lot to put in another podium. I’ll be trying to do that from now on until the end of the year. I see my team-mate and I are now tied for the championship and congratulations to Chris (Vermeulen) on a great race today. It’s good and it brings a little bit of competition into the team.”