Rizla Suzuki scores stunning top-eight finishes after tough weekend down under -ozzy go-

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen
produced two fantastic race performances at the Australian Grand
Prix today, to leave Phillip Island still in fourth and fifth places
respectively in the Riders’ Championship.

Hopkins got off to one of his now customary flying starts and was
up into eighth place from 14th on the grid by the end of lap one.
He continued to chase down other riders in front of him and
although he dropped back a place as he tried to conserve his
Bridgestone race tyre, the Anglo-American battled back to
seventh place at the end of the race to record his best-ever result
at an Australian GP.

Vermeulen also provided a tremendous racing performance as he
followed his team-mate home to claim eighth place, after starting
from 16th on the grid. He got off to a solid start and made up a
couple of places early on before getting involved in a four-way
battle with Carlos Checa, Colin Edwards and Anthony West,
eventually coming out on top at the end of the 27-lap race.

Today’s race was held in dry and sunny conditions and the 50,425
fans at trackside were treated to a home win as new World
Champion Casey Stoner crossed the line first on his factory
Ducati, giving Bridgestone its first-ever Grand Prix victory at
Phillip Island.

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP now travels north to Sepang in Malaysia for
the penultimate round of the 2007 World Championship next
weekend, on Sunday 21st October.

John Hopkins: “We did exactly what we wanted to do today -
obviously I would have liked to have finished higher - but to get
seventh from where we started is a good result. I got a great
start and made a couple of places up round the outside and from
there I just rode my own race. I lost a bit to the front group and
tried to conserve the tyre a bit because we had chosen one of the
softer compounds from our allocation. De Puniet came by me, but
I then latched on to him and used him as a windbreak. It was
good to see Melandri come back to us because I know how close
we are in the championship so it was good to get past him later
on and make up some more points. I tried to make a move on De
Puniet on the last lap but made a mistake in turn one and that
ruined any chance of getting past him. I really want to thank all
my crew here at Suzuki...” full story on rizla-suzuki-motogp.co.uk