Moto Rapido Ducati’s John Hopkins scored his team’s first podium of the season with a solid third place finish in the opening MCE British Superbike race at Brands Hatch this afternoon.
The trophy has been a long time coming for the Ducati outfit and this season his team have been blighted by some technical difficulties and crashes on the Panigale. But things came good today and the former MotoGP racer was able to hold on to the front pairing of newly crowned BSB champ, Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes and PBM Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne to end the day on the rostrum.
Towards the end of the twenty-lapper Hopkins was even closing in on Byrne, but in the end crossed the finishing line in third and was able to celebrate on the podium in front of his hard working team. Now the American can’t wait for the chance to win even more trophy’s during the double-header on Sunday.
“Ever since I got this ride we have been pushing for a podium - it’s been a long time coming. We’ve got so close before, so to finally get it is amazing,” said Hopkins, at the circuit.
“We got a good start, I was following Josh [Brookes] and Shane [Byrne] watching them bash each other up and swap places so I just thought I would try and conserve my tyres as much as possible. Unfortunately we missed all of this morning’s session so we didn’t have a lot of time to set up the bike and so there were some improvements we could have made.
“Once the tyres started to drop off I was pushing the front quite hard and then rear was spinning up a lot so I was unable to chase him down and make a break as I was at the limit.
“There are things we can change tomorrow to improve our pace but first and foremost I have to say a massive thank you to the team. This is definitely dedicated to them for all the hard work they have put in this year and it is so nice to finally repay them with this podium because, like I said, it’s been a long time coming for them and I can’t thank them enough.”
