American John Hopkins finishes behind Swan Yamaha's Tommy Hill but in front of HM Plant Honda's Shane Byrne in Race Two at Brands Hatch, inching closer to the BSB points lead
FAWKHAM, KENT, ENGLAND, AUG 8 – John Hopkins finished the middle leg of a rare triple-header with a second place finish in the last of three races of the British Superbike Brands Hatch weekend.
Hopkins personal triple-header includes the World Superbike round at Silverstone, where he raced last weekend; this weekend’s three BSB races, where he finished fourth, third, and second; and next week’s Czech Grand Prix, where he’ll race the Rizla Suzuki alongside Spaniard Alvaro Bautista. The BSB title is the only one he’s contesting and he’s well placed as the series heads to the Shootout, which is modeled on a similar system used by NASCAR and which none of the riders like. Here’s how it works: The top six riders with the most points after the first nine rounds are the only ones allowed to compete for the championship. Each of the six starts the final three rounds, seven races, with 300 points, plus credits for podium placements. Hopkins currently has 18 podium credits to 20 for HM Plant Honda’s Shane Byrne and 21 for Swan Yamaha’s Tommy Hill. Hill won the final race of the weekend, holding off Hopkins over 20 tense laps of the Brands Hatch Grand Prix track. Well, actually 15. By then Hopkins’ rear tire was shot and Hill was about to break him, running his lead over a second. Over the final five laps Hopkins could only watch as Hill streamed into the distance, while monitoring a rear charge from Byrne, who had his hands full with Hill’s teammate Michael Laverty. Byrne would finish third and Laverty fourth. “It’s quite apparent, the Yamaha with the engine configuration and the way that the bike’s set up - it’s with the full Superbike spec - they get off the corners and they just save the tire better, there’s better tire management,” Hopkins said. “Yamaha, with this new bike that they’ve had in development, they get off the corners really well. Whereas with the Suzuki, with the engine configuration that they’re running, that’s where we seem to lack the most. I mean, all riders complain of it, my teammate (Jon Kirkham), (Josh) Brookes, (Michel) Fabrizio. I mean, the AMA’s just standard streetbikes. Yamaha’s (US) not able to put in what other bikes have. I mean, that’s the only issue right now with the Suzuki is once the tire wear’s gone – first, we don’t manage the tire as well - and once it is gone, we struggle a little bit and that happened in World Superbike, it’s happened here. We’re trying to counteract as best as we can, but there’s only so much we can do to the engine.” Hopkins said there was never a point when he thought he could execute a clean pass, partly because he and Hill were setting such a hot pace. “It was weird, there was never one point in that race where I actually could catch my breath for two or so laps and just sit up and just concentrate,” he said. “I was just flat out with my head down trying to stay with him the entire time. And I did a couple laps here and there and I’d be like ‘OK, I’m right on his back wheel.’ I’d try to sit up and take it really easy and then he gapped me by like three-tenth and so I’d be like, ‘This ain’t working.’ I can actually say that, honestly, I was never setting up a pass. I was too focused on trying to stay with him and drop whoever was behind me.” Hopkins ended the weekend having taken eight points off Byrne and now trails 255 to 231. Hill sits third with 210. But the points aren’t what’s on his mind. He needs podium finishes and will do whatever it takes to get them, including abandoning a fourth or fifth place finish in the final race before the Shootout at Cadwell Park. Unlike in the AMA series, where the grids for both races are set from qualifying, the grid for the second race of a BSB meeting is set by the rider’s fastest lap from the earlier race. Hopkins said that if he doesn’t have a podium shot in the final pre-Shootout race at Cadwell Park, he’d pull in, get a soft rear tire, and try to set the race's fast lap so he could qualify on the pole for the second race, to give himself a better chance of earning another podium credit. “At the end of the day, I want to win the championship as it is, but I also want to win the invisible championship, the cumulative championship,” Hopkins said.Photo Gallery: Hopkins finishes second in Race Two on Sunday at BSB Brands Hatch - Sport Rider Magazine
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