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Silver Bullet is one of only a few Websites worldwide that receives Desiree Crossman`s newsy behind the MotoGP scene column (not always PC). She reports on #21 John (Hopper) Hopkin`s MotoGP exploits and her own as they travel the globe.
Check out - HOPPER`S WEBSITE:
You can send your support to John - HERE:
Here in Surfer\'s Paradise:
So who should I send the bill to? FIM? Thanks for the holiday guys, didn\'t want to be at the track anyway.
The 2 days we were at the hotel in Malaysia, we took adavantage of it. We went into KL one day with John\'s crew chief and some mechanics. We walked around abit before heading to the Chinese Market. Once we were there, of course we see half the paddock there along with heaps of tourists.
One thing that\'s good about Malaysia is that there is a train to KL from the airport which takes about 20 minutes. Once you\'re there, grab a cab and cruise around. I like Malaysia cause\' you feel real safe and everyone seems friendly.
Once we were done with the market, we grabbed a taxi to Hard Rock where it was, again, full of paddock people. Loris was there along with Troy, most of Ducati, us, Colin Edwards, some Proton mechanics, WCM mechanics, and many others. I don\'t know all their names but they\'re from the paddock. We had ourselves some nachos, burgers, and beer. Then we left around 9:30 back to the hotel. Once we got to the train station, there was a bigger group of us cause\' we joined up with Ducati. It was a good night out on the town.
Again, we had to make the most of it so I trained in the gym and laid out by the pool. John and I decided to go to Brisbane and head to Surfer\'s Paradise. So I had to go to KLIA to change around some times for our flight to Singapore. Once I got that taken care of, we were good to go. (It was a big pain in the ass to change these flights, and I was starting to get really pissed off, but I got it handled.) We left Thursday around noon time from the hotel, checked into the airport and flew to Singapore.
We had about an 8 hour layover, but during that whole time, we had to change our route and tickets so once we got off the plane, walked across the airport, had myself a coffee, I had to clear customs and go out to the BA ticket counter to change tickets. It took about 2 hours to do it, but I figured it\'s a good way to kill time. We had to change the route and add a flight as we were coming here. Once we finally made changes to tickets and flights, we went back in. For those of you who\'ve never been to Singapore Changi Int\'l , it has to be one of the most organized, if not the most organized airport I\'ve ever stepped into. Not only is the airport ridiculously clean, they also provide hair salons, fitness centre, spa and pool, sauna, massage therapy, movie theatre, airport hotel to use hourly, plenty of good shopping, and nice people. They definitely take care of their passengers with all the accommodations it provides. Unfortunately, all we did was shop around but John bought a nice portable DVD player that includes a mini surround sound system (boys and their toys) and I bought a Casio Elixim Camera. It was really cool and John said if I wanted it, that\'s the best place to do it. Therefore, I got it.
We then went into the lounge and waited for a few hours for our flight. Then got onto Qantas for our flight to Brisbane. It was only 6 hrs 20 minutes so it wasn\'t that long. We got in at about 7:15 am, got our stuff, rented a car and started driving. All we knew was to go to the Gold Coast where Surfer\'s Paradise is, so we drove until we found it. On the way there, there was a toll highway and we thought it took cards cause\' we didn\'t have any money. It didn\'t, so we got a small fine for not paying. The toll collector was cool, he gave us a paper and told us to sort it later. Once we found SP, we drove to find a hotel. We looked into the first hotel we agreed on although there\'s heaps of them everywhere and chose it. We actually got a full size apartment overlooking the city with beach front view. Not to mention we also have a washer/dryer, with full kitchen, and living room. It\'s sweet for the price. We were thinking a room with a bathroom.
Anyway, so here we are at the moment, Surfer\'s Paradise, south of Brisbane. It would of been dull and frustrating for John to stick around Sepang so we left. Oh well life goes on and there\'s another race to look to. After the incident, we recieved LOADS of emails from people everywhere saying the penalty was bullshit and the FIM stewards are on a good one. Occasionally we do get this email from one guy who must be so intrigued by John that he always sends funny emails like, \"You suck, get over it!\" or the latest, \"Nice going dickhead!\" Apparently he wants to rev us up but I find it rather amusing that this guy cares so much that he take the time to write.
Anyway, so I\'m going to post some of the emails up on the Moto Journals page and let you all have a look. Thanks again for all the support from people EVERYWHERE. I\'d like to say something to FIM but I can\'t just to be safe, but all I can say is I sincerely hope it backires in their face. Seems like they wanted to inflate their egoes a bit. It\'s been one of a year already. Oh I wish I could say more. :)
Until we fly out to Melbourne, signing off from Surfer\'s Paradise.
Des
