If you were Hopper.........

Hopper is in some "immaculate pain" right now (his words not mine; was Mamola his English teacher?) due to his injuries and due to his inability to find any leads in GP.

Hopper's agent and his sponsorship money were talking to Poncharal a while back and Poncharal wouldn't even entertain the thought of hiring Hopper for next season. It seems that most of the other bikes are already accounted for as well. If you were Hopper what would you do?

Stay with Stiggy? Try to get upgraded to the Ten Kate squad? Talk to Xerox Ducati? Talk to Sterligarda Yamaha?

Or maybe even take some sponsorship money and see if you can't muscle in on your own team in Moto2 (Hopper actually quite good on low powered machinery)?

Hopper has been on the international stage for 7 years and he has never stood on top of the box. If he wants to hang around he needs wins and possibly a championship. If Spies stays in WSBK, I think Hopper might want to look at Moto2.

He's not getting a seat at Ducati or Yamaha. Heck, the way the races are going know, I do not see a seat opening up at Ten Kate either.

He's become a buy rider, which is what his talent warrants. Stiggy Racing is the best place for him. Not a factory seat, but it is a place that will bring him back to earth. He is maybe the number 4, number 5 U.S. born talent, and a seat on a lower team will teach him that.

Hopper will have no sponsorship money next year. He will Stay with stiggy for 2010 and finish 5th in WSBK (only taking a win if Spies is in GP). He's a talented rider that's injury prone and makes poor personal choices. He'll never be at the top of anything but a paddock girl.

That said, he could podium at Brno.

He needs to heal up and stay on the bike. I don't know that a respectable GP ride is at all obtainable for him at this point - he's got too many injuries and too many rides on the dismal kwak between now and his last season at Suzuki. He needs to have some success to show that the promise that he's shown over the years hasn't been beaten out of him and that he can translate his skills from "trying really hard on a crummy bike" to "winning on a decent bike".

Realistically, once you're out of GPs, getting back in is a bear. Some riders have come to MotoGP from superbikes (or even 250s, as Kallio and Talmasci are older than Hopper) at around his age recently, although maybe not with as much wear and tear. Barros showed that a rider could do superbikes for a year and then get back to GPs, although not with a premier ride.

Not sure how Moto2 will be, but I'd lean towards superbikes. Whatever the best ride he can track down is - Stiggy's doing admirably well this year and Ten kate's been a bit of a disappointment for most of the season. I doubt many superbike riders would turn down Xerox. Yamaha has only had one rider really excel on it. I think Stiggy is probably the place. Xerox will likely look elsewhere. Ten Kate doesn't necessarily have an opening (although they always run enough bikes it seems), doesn't necessarily want him, and isn't any guarantee of a better bike than what Stiggy can field.

As always, his first focus is getting healthy. He has shown he has the speed in Race 1 at Donny, but then also shown he is still a liability by not racing in Race 2. Once the dude is back to 100%, as the saying always goes, he has to beat his teammate, and Haslam has been a real terror this year so he will have his hands full just doing that. If the guy can finish top 10's on the Stiggy for the rest of the year he will probably keep his ride. If he can't manage that he might not even be staying on with Stiggy. If he somehow manages to podium several times or by miracle win, only then could he think of moving to a better team in WSBK. I really find it hard seeing him ever going back to GP. Aside from the injury situation, he seems a lot happier in the Superbike realm.

It makes you wonder what he could be doing now, had he stayed with Suzuki in MotoGP.

If he was still with suzuki he'd be doing jsut as bad a capirossi and vermulen, both great riders but suzuki only have 2 gp bikes, so bit of a disadvantage.

Where he is now is prob. the best place he could be in...hes lucky he was able to get a ride, although he was unlucky for the kawasaki thing. Even so, he should make the best of a bad situation, ride consistent and hope for a better ride in the seasons to come. (although in my opinion he'll never be back to gp)

...consider himself to be lucky to race for a living and take whatever ride he can get. He is out of MotoGP. He could stay in WSBK for a while even with the reoccurring injuries if he finishes well. Moto2 is also an option but he may feel that is beneath him. I prefer to see him on a superbike. The injuries just have to stop. When he is middle age...boy he will feel it.

he should forget about a gp ride cause it ain't gonna happen. he could end up back in that paddock if he go's to moto2 but i doubt that as well. he needs to heal up & score a ride in sbk or he'll be doin color commentary for a new career.

I'd like to see him take Talmasci's ride on the Scott team. I think with a half way decent bike he could get good results and finish in the top ten easily.

Personally though I would like him to stay in superbikes. I enjoy watching these races a bit more and it's always good to have more talent up at the front.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mjpartyboy @ Jun 30 2009, 01:59 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>It makes you wonder what he could be doing now, had he stayed with Suzuki in MotoGP.

I don't understand why people think its so one sided, Suzuki had an opportunity to keep him but they decided to let him go. Its NOT like Suzuki can hang their hats on the idea that they can make good decision about who's best on their bikes; after all, they did manage to piss away the best talent potential in decades in Ben Spies. I suspect Hopkins would have been decent on the Suzuki, and they are both half to blame. Now when Spies wins the WSBK title, we can continue to laugh at Suzuki for the opportunity lost as indicative of their ability to scout and sign talent. They got lucky with Loris, in that most teams thought he was too old, while he still wanted to ride in GP, they got him for a bargain. It wasn't rocket science to see Spies was certainly capable of taking the Suzuki to the next step, especially if you think of how his results improved exponentially in the wildcards he had with them. Suzuki should have signed him automatically after that excellent finish at Indy (which would have been better had his team treated his helmet with anti-fog treatment). Not to mention that Mr. Schwantz was eager and willing to mentor him to success and a possible title run for Suzuki.

So I blame Suzuki for not making the needed steps to have real success in MotoGP. They seem to be content with mid packing.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (frosty58 @ Jun 30 2009, 06:46 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>he should forget about a gp ride cause it ain't gonna happen. he could end up back in that paddock if he go's to moto2 but i doubt that as well. he needs to heal up & score a ride in sbk or he'll be doin color commentary for a new career.

Agree. There is no way he's going back to MotoGP unless his results can make a compelling case to resign him, and even then, who would take him. Certainly not Suzuki, since they seem to piss away opportunities, even now the top 250 talent rather go with satellite Yamaha and Honda than to touch Suzuki.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jumkie @ Jun 30 2009, 04:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>So I blame Suzuki for not making the needed steps to have real success in MotoGP. They seem to be content with mid packing.

Besides the fact that Suzuki's rider dealings haven't suited your personal interests recently (probably not their priority), they aren't doing so badly. Capirossi wound up being a pretty good decision (much to my suprise after 07) and now they are apparently close to getting hold of Bautista for next year.

Oh and i wouldn't be surprised to see Hopper head back to America for big money if he can't get a competative WSBK ride, but i think he probably deserves one if he can stay on his bike.

According to the guys at Eurosport, both Monster and Red Bull are negotiating to become title sponsor for the Yamaha Italia squad in 2010. Considering Red Bull's insistence on running teams they sponsor, I would bet that Yamaha Italia go with the Monster money. Should Spies join Tech 3, which looks quite likely, my bet is Hopkins lands at Yamaha Italia for 2010 with Monster paying for some of his contract.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Austin @ Jun 30 2009, 07:20 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>According to the guys at Eurosport, both Monster and Red Bull are negotiating to become title sponsor for the Yamaha Italia squad in 2010. Considering Red Bull's insistence on running teams they sponsor, I would bet that Yamaha Italia go with the Monster money. Should Spies join Tech 3, which looks quite likely, my bet is Hopkins lands at Yamaha Italia for 2010 with Monster paying for some of his contract.
The WSBK paddock revolves around Spies.
66:1 Ben will stay in SBK.
2:1 Red Bull will sponsor KTM's effort
100:1 Monster think Hopper has been useless

Go home, .... my hot wife, smoke a joint, have a beer, and do some 360 live.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (clarkjw @ Jun 30 2009, 11:39 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>The WSBK paddock revolves around Spies.
66:1 Ben will stay in SBK.
2:1 Red Bull will sponsor KTM's effort
100:1 Monster think Hopper has been useless

I think bigger money than Monster money will find Spies. I'm quite certain InFront will throw some money his way. They must know he represents a huge opportunity to capture TV deals from American media companies. How much they offer him will depend on whether or not he secures the title this year.

Spies will be the Rossi of SBK if he stays, but he needs to fabricate a bunch of stories about NASCAR trying to hire him away. It will probably double the offers from InFront.

I don't think Monster will drop Hopper. His results have been lacking, but Monster have always maintained a relatively local approach to sponsorship by choosing to sponsor Southern California natives or residents (Rob Dyrdek, Greg Hancock, Rick Huseman, Ken Block). Monster is located in Corona, CA and Hopper is from Ramona, CA.

Monster also has an affinity for creating brand alliances with other companies. They've been deeply involved with Kawasaki USA and they've provided conspicuous sponsorship (in a micro market sport) to Ken Block's US rally racing team (co-founder of DC Shoes). Now that Kwak have dropped the ball, it looks like Monster are trying to squeeze into Yamaha's operations. I think Hopper will be part of their plans.

I hope hopper finds his way back into GP. Once he got a decent bike under him, he managed to finish 4th in the championship. There were riders with better bikes finishing further down the ladder, colin for one.

For someone with no pedigree he sure knows how to make the most out of his professional motorcycle racing career. Even though he's still young, the guy already spent how many years in Motogp.... and let's not forget that killer of a deal he made with Kawasaki for riding his last year, I guess you can call that a 'bonus'.

As far as racing talent goes, yeah the guy's pretty damn good on a bike..... still, he's nothing to write home about. He's about your slightly above average midfield racer, more hype than anything really.