John Hopkins is hopeful that he will be able to ride at full capacity this weekend at Silverstone after undergoing more surgery on his injured finger. Hopkins dislocated the third finger on his right hand while on MotoGP duty at Brno but returned to BSB action in style with a double-victory at Donington Park.
The American admitted he was in a lot of pain throughout the Donington weekend but the latest surgery should allow him to ride without comfort as he looks to defend his three-point lead over Tommy Hill.
“There was a lot of pain in my fingers at Donington Park and I knew it wasn’t right and in fact I was very worried I’d aggravated the injury. So I rushed back to see my surgeon on the Monday.”
“The X-Rays showed that my middle finger wasn’t locating properly in the second knuckle. Fortunately the bone area that had previously been crushed was now nicely healed and so my surgeon was able to put in screws and plates so as to stabilize the finger.”
“I could feel straight away that the finger was much stronger and it’s improved every day since. I’m now very confident that I’ll be able to ride at near-enough 100% at Silverstone next weekend.”
Samsung Crescent Suzuki Team Manager Jack Valentine is excited at the team's prospects this weekend after their stunning performance in the World Superbike meeting in Northamptonshire. With Hopkins fully fit, Valentine is expecting a strong weekend.
“I was amazed John was able to ride through such pain at Donington Park. He wouldn’t take pain killers and we could tell by the end of the second race it had been a tough ordeal for him.”
“The news now is all-good; John’s surgeon identified the issues and has done an incredible job in returning the stability John’s knuckle and finger needed. John’s very excited by the progress he’s made and we can now look forward to him being physically much better-prepared for the Silverstone round. He took the lap record there at the World Superbike round we attended earlier this year and we think he’ll now be able to continue with that kind of pace. We can expect to be very competitive.”