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THE RIDER COACH JOHN HOPKINS ON TEACHING OLD DOGS NEW TRICKS I f there's a rider who's been there and done it, it's John Hopkins. Having ridden everything from 125cc, 250cc and 500cc Grand Prix two-strokes, to MotoGP four-strokes and every specification of superbike during a 20-year career, Hopper knows a thing or two about making a bike go fast. But he's now learning to impart that knowledge to a new breed of rider, and one who has had consider- able success doing it "his way." "I knew it was going to be tougher with Cam than with Joe," Hopkins said. "Joe was a kid that wanted to soak up as much information as he could. But Cam was different because he's had so much success doing it his way on a superbike, and with me racing 10 years on a superbike and 10 years on a grand prix bike, I know the dif- ferences between the two. They're two entirely different machines. You have to ride them completely differently. "The way you have to hang off, the way that you have to physically force the bike to get it apex. You use 10 times more rear brake on a grand prix bike, because you don't have that flex from the chassis. Su- perbikes have a certain amount of flex. It's easy to just get the thing picked up, whereas with GP bikes you really have to force them into the corner and then get them picked up for the exit. "You could see it at the beginning of the year, where Cam was literally riding the thing like a superbike, his riding style and everything. I was like, 'Dude, you got to do this, you got to do this.' He was a bit apprehensive, but I knew that was going to be the case because he's had so much success doing it his way. I knew he probably was going to come in and it's like trying to teach an old dog new tricks. I'd show him pictures and stuff like that, and he would be like, 'Okay…' He would argue the fact. He would be a little bit dif- ficult. But if you had seen pictures from the beginning of the year of into a corner, mid-corner, or exit compared to how he was riding the bike at the end of the year, he looks like an entirely different rider. He's actually hanging off. "The biggest thing was the rear brake. At the beginning of the John Hopkins (left) has been there and done it on pretty much every type of road racing motorcycle. Now his job is to get Beaubier and Kelly there. FEATURE I AMERICAN RACING TEAM P78 than ever for their shot at the MotoGP big time. "I remember Remy [Gardner, 2021 Moto2 World Champion] passed me at the beginning of testing at Portimao, the first couple sessions out. And I was like "How the f--k am I sup- posed to go that fast?" But, sure enough, you keep chipping away, chipping away. I don't want to necessarily put a posi- tion on it or anything, but it's kind of time. I want to run up front. I did on a couple of occasions last year when everything went right, and it felt really good. I want more of that." With Beaubier looking to cement his status as a full-time front runner in Moto2, on the other side of the garage, Sean Dylan Kelly is preparing to re- enter the European racing scene after three years as a contender in the Red Bull Rookies Cup. Kelly comes to the Moto2 game armed with the 2021 Mo- toAmerica Supersport Champi- onship title under his belt and prior knowledge of many of the tracks he'll race in 2022, and he crucially got a few thousand miles on the Moto2 machine when he traveled to Europe near the tail-end of 2021 with his father and participated in several track days at tracks like Jerez, Misano and Portimao. "Honestly, it was incredible," the Floridian said of his first days on the Moto2 Kalex chassis. "I got some good kilometers down, but it was with no team whatsoever. I had no suspension

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