Español

Your shopping cart is empty

Stiggy Racing Honda>> Points and DNF's for Haslam and Hopkins at the Nurburgring

September 10 2009

Sunday, September 6
The 11th round of the World Superbike Championship got off to a messy start when a pile up of riders, including Stiggy Racing Honda's John Hopkins, caused a red flag on the first lap of the first Superbike race at the Nurburgring in Germany today.

John Hopkins got hit from behind going into the second turn and took Broc Parkes down with him to a premature end of their first race. Hopkins was taken to hospital for further examination but was declared free of any serious injuries.
In the re-started race Leon Haslam was pushed wide by fellow Honda rider Jonathan Rea in the first corner but kept it together and came through the first lap in eight place. He worked his way past Michel Fabrizio and Troy Corser before taking the fifth place from Max Biaggi. The Italian regained his position through a counter attack on the ultimate lap and pushed Leon Haslam to a sixth place at the flag.

Leon Haslam got off the line well in the second race and was save in second place. Ben Spies moved up to third place and put the pressure on Haslam which forced him to run through the gravel. The chatter issues with the front end of his machine worsened and impeded his pace. Haslam was put in fourth place while Spies and Checa filled in the number two and three slots. Leon lost his fourth place on the ultimate lap to Max Biaggi and finished the second German Superbike race in fifth place.

Jonathan Rea took the win in the second race, followed by new series leader Ben Spies in second and Carlos Checa in third place.

Leon Haslam - Race 1 - 6th, Race 2 - 5th:
“I am a bit disappointed with the result of my second race. I got the started I wanted for the race, and I had a good battle with Johnny. I felt comfortable riding behind him but Johnny kept pulling a bit on the straights and I thought I could keep it up. I suffered some a bit of front end chatter but when Spies passed me and put me onto the gravel the chattering seemed to have gotten worse. I made a few mistakes when I went back on to the track and dropped back a second from the pace I set before. I feel it could have been a win and easily a second place, but that is racing."

John Hopkins - Race 1 - DNF, Race 2 - DNS:
“My day started off well and my crew found a good set-up for the machine in the warm-up session and I managed to improve my pace. I was confident going into the race. I knew the start would be tough and I had to be somewhere tactical to get myself into the top 10 by the end of the first lap. I ran a bit wide coming out of turn one and then got hit from behind in the second turn and high-sided into Broc Parkes. I was unconscious for 10 minutes before waking up in the ambulance. A bike ran over my chest, but apart from that I have no serious injuries. I just hope my luck will turn around soon."

Johan Stigefelt - Team Manager:
"John has experienced a lot of bad luck this season and this weekend unfortunately is no exception. We hope it will soon turn around for him. He had not had the change to show what he is capable of. We had some issues with the electronics of his machine and he has only had a limited amount of laps in the practice sessions. Fortunately he is not injured after the crash. Leon has done a great job again taking a fifth and sixth place. He could have finished on the podium in the second race, but lost his momentum after running off the track. I am confident he could have been on the podium here. We are still sixth in the championship so all in all we should be confident with these results."

Stiggy Motorsports Honda is sponsored by Hotbodies Racing and uses our windscreens on all of their bikes. Hotbodies Racing specializes in manufacturing high-performance parts for high-performance sportbikes, and is the North American distribution of KR Tuned performance parts. Hotbodies Racing is the market leader in Undertails, Huggers, Windscreens, Flush-Mount Signals, Megaphone Exhausts and full-race Bodywork. Hotbodies Racing supports the sport with sponsorship around the world and encourages dealer and distributor inquiries. For more information visit: www.HOTBODIESRACING.com.