Fantastic debut podium for Hopkins in Shanghai

[Posted 11.05.07]

John Hopkins secured his first MotoGP podium at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai today, as he stormed his Rizla Suzuki home in third place - a result that also moves him into the top five in the MotoGP Championship.

Hopkins started from the front row of the grid and got off to a great start. He then traded places with Marco Melandri and Dani Pedrosa early on, before getting away from them and chasing down Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi. The hard-charging Anglo-American caught up with the leaders and the three of them produced incredibly fast lap-times as they pulled away from the chasing pack. Hopkins tried to make a bid for a higher position, but decided that bringing his GSV-R home for his first top-three finish was more important than any last lap heroics.

Hopkins was visibly overcome as he crossed the line in front of his cheering team, he will now go onto the next round in France with high confidence as he looks to build on this success.

Chris Vermeulen again showed his true racer spirit by making his way up to an impressive seventh place from 15th on the grid. He battled all race long with Loris Capirossi as the two of them fought their way through the field in the 22-lap race. The performance of the Bridgestone tyres was yet again another major factor in Vermeulen's ability to get past other riders and keep the consistency in his lap-times.

Today's race was held in warm and sunny conditions with air temperatures reaching 23ƒC. An exuberant crowd watched Stoner win his third race of the season on his Bridgestone-shod Ducati.

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP now travels back to Europe for round five of the MotoGP World Championship at Le Mans in France on Sunday 20th May.