Samsung Suzuki's John Hopkins goes into this weekend's Brands Hatch British Superbike round as the only man since Yukio Kagayama to ride in BSB, MotoGP and WSB in one season and is happy his team proved they were fast enough to race on the world stage.

Hopkins, who is second in the BSB title table behind Shane Byrne, came out of Silverstone with fifth and a seventh places and will race at Brno next weekend with the Rizla Suzuki squad. He first deputised for Alvaro Bautista earlier in the year when the Spaniard broke his femur at Qatar.

“This has been an incredible run of races for me and it is a pretty big deal to do three different championships in three weekends! I know Yukio did it in 2003 and carried on with an amazing run of nine consecutive races, I just have no idea how he managed that," said Hopkins.

"It was good to get back to World racing last weekend at Silverstone, we did ok there, but I think we deserved a little better after qualifying on pole. We’d know how to get a better race distance result if we went back now! The weekend was a boost for all of us as it showed we are good enough to be there.

"This week at Brands will be busy as we have three races over two days, so there will be little time for rest and relaxation, but the BSB title is my main goal this weekend so I am totally focused on that. Then we go to Brno for the MotoGP race, it’s a really big pleasure to be given this opportunity by Suzuki and I am going there much better prepared than when I rode as a replacement at the start of the season.

“It’s an amazing thing to be in this position when I consider where I was at with my physical condition just a year ago, and I’m so grateful to everyone that has helped me to get back to a decent level. I just hope that from these three race weekends I can produce some quality as well as quantity to repay the faith shown in me. One thing I can guarantee is 100% commitment.”