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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.
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It’s another sweltering day here in Catalunya. Yesterday when I wrote the first update, I mentioned that the forecast called for rain today, but I was under the impression it may not happen. Well, after I wrote that, I managed to step outside and notice the sky turning grey and then I thought to myself, "&^%$!" The clouds rolled in and the humidity picked up. There was a light drizzle that came down but nothing too heavy and now it’s back to clear skies. I think the temperature today is the same as it was yesterday and more people are out today. If I’m not mistaken this circuit has the capacity of holding nearly 105,000 spectators and the stands looked two thirds full today so tomorrow I can imagine it being absolutely jam-packed.
This morning’s session went alright. There was only one crash and that was Gregorio who is the Suzuki test and wild card rider. Not a lot of damage I presume, he was back out in no time. Nothing much to be said really of the first session, to be quite honest, it was a little boring. The only semi-exciting moment was at the end of the session when Vale had a mechanical failure. Not saying it was great, but that was a small highlight of the session. Again, some riders were pulling off some McCoy moves but other then that, it was fairly unexciting. The second qualifying session wasn’t too bad though, a bit more action. There were a few run-off’s and crashes, Loris took a tumble but he was ok. Loris is such a small guy and to watch him ride the Ducati the way he does is pretty incredible. Every time he’s on the television and coming around a corner, all you can see is smoke scorching off the rear tire. Animals!!!
John’s been doing quite well despite his thumb and some minor problems. A few times in the first and second session, he came in for a bit to ice the thumb to keep it from swelling anymore than it already has. No one wants him to jeopardize his fitness anymore, and fitness as in his thumb being 100% fit. But he wanted to ride and in the second qualifying session, although he stopped riding for 20 minutes, he went out in the last 8 or so minutes and rode pretty good. Well, he stopped riding with 36 minutes to go and then went back out around 15 minutes to go to ride about the track. With the 8 minutes to go, he went out on a qualifier to put the bike in the sixth position. With the time dwindling down, the garage goes silent. It’s funny though because always the last two minute of qualifying, everything goes silent. When the session was over or the checkered flag was out, John was sixth, but Nicky and Ruben jumped in the top spots right at the very last minute, so he bumped down to eighth. Still, we were all pleased and he was especially pleased although his thumb isn’t up to standards.
This race is Sete’s home race cause’ he’s from Barcelona, so the crowd goes wild for him especially. He kept on pole in front of his home crowd, Vale took 2nd and Nicky took 3rd. Tomorrow should be a good race to watch with all the thousands of people going nuts. I just walked outside to check out the scene, there are still loads of people walking about and I DID check the sky this time. The clouds seem to be rolling in again but who knows what it will be like tomorrow.
Anyway, looking forward to tomorrow, bye for now.
Des.