Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1542352
John Hopkint o o o P o Dizla Suzuki'slohn Hopkins sho\,/ed uP in I \Qatar for the MotoGP with road rash and a gash in his head after a luclg escape from a hi!-and-run-bicycle accident on a wet road near his U.K. home in the British Midlands, Hopkins said he was about 15 miles into a 4o-mile training ride when he was clipped from behind and thrown to the ground on a wet Sunday mo.ninS in Donishthorpe, near Donin8ton Park. "lwas pushing pretty hard BoinS down a hill," he bepn, "right next to the curb and then the next thin8 I know I 8et clipped from behind and pushed sideways. lt \,ves almost like a big gust of wind. But I felt the Hopkins said the impact broke the rear frame off his brand-new $10,000 Pinarello, but the wheel wasn't broken. Still. the bike was unrideable. Six or seven phone calls to a sleepy friend netted him a ride home. ''lt could have been a lot worse. lt could have been a lot, lot worse. At the end of rhe day I cracked my head open - and it smashed the helmet in and ir ended up pullint off the strap thing to the side. lthink the initial impacr hit it and then it just smacked the back in really good. Just cut the whole back of my head open." There was also road rash to his right leg and elbow \ - "Oh yeah, you know a car hit me. Head's bleeding. Scraped up.'What color was it?' I don't know. 'What kind was it?' I don't know." - John Hopkins smack - probably from the side view [mir- rorl. And then k iust sent me sideways and started flipping. Next thing I smacked my he:d. I saw the bi8 bright light that you nor- mally do when you smack your head. Next thing I know l'm iust slk ing, So 6 soon as I gather myself there were no cars in sight. I sat there for a little bit, iust tryinS to gather myself waiting to see if the car would come back by - and no car lt sucks." " My gueis i5 that the guy probably just tot out ofa niSht club pissed on Sunday Fornint, still drunk." Hopkins said he didn't call the police because he had nothing to tell them. "What am I going to say? I show up at the hospital. Oh yeah, you know a car hit me. Head's bleedinS. Scrap€d up. 'What color was it?' I don't know. 'What kind was k? I Most importaft was that he didn't dam- age the $44,000 worth of dental work he had done during the ofr-season, pa.tly to repair damage done in last year's vicious SachsenrinS highside. Hopkins rnanaged to forSet about the bicycle accident for a few hours on Wednesday mominS when he and d'Antin Ducati's Alex Hofmann attacked the desert dunes on quads. The friendly competition, at a resort olrBide of Doha, was rn€ant to 8en- erate some pre-event publicity for the wolst attended race on the calendar. "l think we had the best prc-event MotoGP's ever done," Hopkins said of tie event that included the president of the Qatari Motorcycle Federation. "Me and Hofmann, even though we'.e Eood buddies and we're competitive on motoaross bikes, They picked the right people for the iob," he said. Hopkins warn't sure what they were riding in the dunes, "They were some like 2@s. lt was like a big oversized LT-80 with gears, No suspen- sion or anything. lt wasn't a perforrnarrce quad. \ le made them perform prett,, well [once they arrived, about 45 minutes late]." By then Marco Melandri had seen enough and left. "Then they found a jump riSht at the motocross track. We rode back over the dunes and it'r hard-packed sand and we tound a pretty big tabletop that we had to hit fourth Sear wide open-" Heniry Rof Abturnt Kicking lt! Wth the world watchint on television, Rizla Suzuki's John Hopkins went ballistic when his Suzuki broke down dur- in8 the Qatar Grand Prix on Saturday, April 8. Naturally, cartoonist John Mockett had his own take on the situation. ADVANSI' lN TEfiN 0t06I rlm IEA],|tUZtIlfl No.lzB \ @NCEPT NAL 2ooe THE NENSTOP I 7'r != a r, .U I 2 APR|L 19, 2006 CYCLE NEWS t-t er's Bi Grash 7 -\l ) \ \ {. :y'/ L-U THE KICIS5TART te73 7 I I I \