Moto Rapido Ducati’s John Hopkins crashed at Craner Curves during the second MCE British Superbike free practice session at Donington Park but fortunately came away from the incident unscathed.

The American was inside the top five fastest times before he fell into the gravel and even when the chequered flag appeared only dropped to sixth quickest, with a 1’29.926.

The team had a solid pre-season testing regime in Spain, but for team boss Steve Moore being consistent and conserving tyre life will be key to the 2017 season. The two free practice outings were positive for both Hopkins and his crew, even after changes to the rear shock.

“It is all good - it is Craner Curves it’s Donington it happens. It is good working with John, it went well today I was quite pleased. John was quick he was a bit annoyed with himself as I think he clipped the curb and it is not a problem. we will fix the bike ready for Saturday,” said Moore, speaking to bikesportnews.com.

“There is a bit of tweaking to do, tyre life is the key thing, you need to put in twenty crazy laps in a row. In pre-season in Spain with John we worked on a setting that was not necessarily absolutely super sharp to get one fast lap, but it was usable over a race distance.

“This morning we used one pair of tyres in the first session and used 16 laps and to try and see what the bike can do on warm tyres. In FP2 we made some changes to the rear shock not too much, and John liked it straight away. Everything we changed has been an improvement. Feedback is good from John and looking forward to tomorrow.”

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