Hopkins to Miss Laguna Seca

A native of Ramona, Calif., Hopkins is scheduled for surgery on his left leg, which he injured in a qualifying session for the Assen TT June 28. Hopkins lowsided his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR and fractured his tibia and an ankle bone after colliding with the wall. The incident occurred on the circuits final left, the Ramshoek corner, the same turn that took out Rizla Suzuki rider Loris Capirossi during the free practice.

Hopkins was examined by California-based specialist Dr. Arthur Ting who determined that surgery was required to reset the tibia bone and relieve some compression on the knee. Hopkins will miss the German Grand Prix race at Sachsenring July 13 and the U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif. July 20.

Kawasaki Racing will not have a replacement racing in Hopkins place at Sachsenring to race with Anthony West, but competition manager Michael Bartholemy says the team is considering a rider for Laguna Seca.

I am sorry for John, as I know he was looking forward to racing in front of his home crowd at Laguna Seca, where he always enjoys a lot of support, says Bartholemy. Now we know the full extent of John's injuries we are looking at the possibility of running a replacement rider at Laguna Seca. We will make a further announcement about this ahead of this weekends German Grand Prix.

Kawasaki will likely bring in an AMA racer to substitute for Hopkins at Laguna Seca, such as Jamie Hacking or Roger Lee Hayden, younger brother of Repsol Hondas Nicky Hayden. Both riders are already slated to compete at Laguna Seca in AMA races. Roger Lee Hayden competed in the 2007 U.S. Grand Prix as a wildcard entry for Kawasaki