Hopper springs Shanghai surprise

American John Hopkins topped the timesheets in this afternoon’s second free practice session in Shanghai to show top speed isn’t everything in the MotoGP world championship.

The factory Suzuki rider was one of several riders to express pre-race fears Ducati’s super-fast 800 would be unstoppable in China, with the season’s longest straight heavily favouring the incredible top speed performance of the new GP7.

But Hopkins cast aside a massive speed deficit of 9.3mph to top the timesheets with a best of 2.01.204s set with just 40 seconds of the session remaining.

Hopkins, who finished fourth in Shanghai 12 months ago, had finished second in this morning’s opening session, which as expected was topped by the Ducati of in-form Aussie Casey Stoner.

As predicted, Ducati dominated speed chart figures with Brazilian veteran Alex Barros flying through the speed trap at 204.43mph.

He was only 13th fastest though and Stoner wasn’t far behind with a best speed of 202.81mph yet the series leader was only eighth fastest on the timesheets this afternoon.

Hopkins’ Rizla Suzuki GSV-R was only logged at 195.11mph though is confident he can break his long-running premier class podium duck after an impressive start to the Shanghai clash.

“I want to finish every single race this year within the top five, if not within the top three. So I think it’s just the podium’s has been put up on a pedestal.

“It’s just the podium’s on a pedestal, it’s like this big thing, but once we crack it I think we should be there every race,” said Hopkins, who logged an impressive 10 laps in the 2.01 bracket this afternoon.

With Ducati’s huge top speed advantage not being reflecting in the final standings, Italian Marco Melandri was second fastest to edge out factory Honda duo Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden.

Melandri, who is now expected to join Hayden and Carlos Checa in contesting the Suzuka Eight-hour endurance race later this year, clocked a best time of 2.01.303 to knock 0.9s off his best time this morning.

Melandri though only managed six laps in the 2.01 bracket.

Last year’s Shanghai winner Pedrosa clocked his best time of 2.01.333 with just over two minutes of the session remaining, though he was overhauled at the death by Hopkins.

Reigning world champion Hayden threatened to cause a major shock when he topped the timesheets with 11 minutes to go.

He set a best time of 2.01.346 chasing Stoner’s Ducati to go top, and he eventually finished fourth quickest to bolster some of his dented morale after a tough start to the defence of his crown.

Fourth fastest this morning too, the American seemed to benefit from new engine parts given to him in China. Designed for better mid-range power on his factory RC212V, Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa was also using a new exhaust system today to help gain more speed.

Best Ducati was veteran Italian Loris Capirossi, who is expecting to get a new GP7 engine at his home race in Mugello next month.

He edged out Valentino Rossi for fifth place in a session that saw the top 14 riders split by less than a second.

Rossi slipped to sixth after he’d topped the timesheets at one stage, though he seemed to have braking stability issues at the end of the long back straight.

He ran off this morning and this afternoon at that part of the track that sees riders braking fiercely from sixth to first gear.

Using new harder casing rear Michelin tyres after his Turkey disaster last month, Rossi was one place ahead of Fiat Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards.

Edwards too was fastest at one stage as he got to try the same engine spec used for the first time by Rossi in Istanbul today.

Designed to bolster top speed by 2-3ks, Edwards was still languishing way down the speed trap chart this afternoon. The American’s YZR-M1 was only 16th fastest and he was a massive 10.25mph slower than Barros.

While Rossi and Edwards have both received engine upgrades in the last two races, fastest Yamaha was Tech 3 Dunlop rider Sylvain Guintoli. His M1 clocked a best speed of 196.97mph.

World championship leader Stoner was eighth quickest as he ended up just 0.256s behind Hopkins.

Stoner though reeled off a series of impressive lap times in his 22 lap stint, with 11 set in the 2.01 bracket – one more than Hopkins managed.

Free practice one results:

1 Casey STONER AUS DUCATI 2’01.538
2 John HOPKINS USA SUZUKI 2’01.603
3 Valentino ROSSI ITA YAMAHA 2’02.050
4 Nicky HAYDEN USA HONDA 2’02.052
5 Chris VERMEULEN AUS SUZUKI 2’02.082
6 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA DUCATI 2’02.083
7 Colin EDWARDS USA YAMAHA 2’02.148
8 Dani PEDROSA SPA HONDA 2’02.225
9 Randy DE PUNIET FRA KAWASAKI 2’02.262
10 Marco MELANDRI ITA HONDA 2’02.268
11 Toni ELIAS SPA HONDA 2’02.378
12 Kenny ROBERTS JR USA KR212V 2’02.595
13 Carlos CHECA SPA HONDA 2’02.826
14 Alex HOFMANN GER DUCATI 2’02.873
15 Olivier JACQUE FRA KAWASAKI 2’03.290
16 Alex BARROS BRA DUCATI 2’03.400
17 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA YAMAHA 2’03.530
18 Makoto TAMADA JPN YAMAHA 2’04.469
19 Shinya NAKANO JPN HONDA 2’04.754

Free practice two results:

1 John HOPKINS USA SUZUKI 2’01.204
2 Marco MELANDRI ITA HONDA 2’01.303
3 Dani PEDROSA SPA HONDA 2’01.333
4 Nicky HAYDEN USA HONDA 2’01.346
5 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA DUCATI 2’01.365
6 Valentino ROSSI ITA YAMAHA 2’01.390
7 Colin EDWARDS USA YAMAHA 2’01.409
8 Casey STONER AUS DUCATI 2’01.460
9 Alex HOFMANN GER DUCATI 2’01.771
10 Carlos CHECA SPA HONDA 2’01.881
11 Randy DE PUNIET FRA KAWASAKI 2’01.896
12 Chris VERMEULEN AUS SUZUKI 2’01.991
13 Alex BARROS BRA DUCATI 2’02.051
14 Toni ELIAS SPA HONDA 2’02.114
15 Makoto TAMADA JPN YAMAHA 2’02.242
16 Kenny ROBERTS JR USA KR212V 2’02.564
17 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA YAMAHA 2’02.768
18 Olivier JACQUE FRA KAWASAKI 2’02.818
19 Shinya NAKANO JPN HONDA 2’02.977