Samsung Suzuki's John Hopkins has been officially ruled out of competition at this weekend's Cadwell Park British Superbike round as the fingers he broke in a crash at the Brno MotoGP meeting have not healed sufficiently.

The American damaged three fingers on his right hand in the crash during a wet free practice in the Czech Republic. He went under the knife in California where surgeons found the damage to be worse than they first suspected. He will not be replaced this weekend so team-mate Jon Kirkham will fly solo.

"Unfortunately Hopper's hand is not healed enough to race this weekend, and while this is disappointing to us and the fans it is the right decision when we consider the upcoming Showdown phase of the championship," said team boss Jack Valentine.

"Hopper's been in daily contact as he's undergone intensive laser treatment and hyperbaric chamber sessions. He's explained the external pins are expected to be removed on Wednesday, but of course the weekend is too soon after that for his hand to be sufficiently healed.

"We will, we suspect, lose a few podium points to our rivals in the Showdown, but to race a superbike at a track such as this when you don't have 100% strength in your throttle and brake hand is simply too dangerous both to the rider and his competitors and would only stand to slow Hopper's recovery from the injury.

"The team will nonetheless be at very near full-strength as we look forward to giving Jon Kirkham additional resources for the weekend. He'll have two crew chiefs working for him as well as his regular crew of mechanics and we hope this will fast track his set-up, allowing him to get back to where he belongs, at the front of the field."