<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jumkie @ Apr 4 2008, 02:43 PM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Did he steal your girlfriend or something? (Joking, just using a line I read on the forum once)
Not sure why Hopkins is getting a bad rap here Austin, but getting a paycheck doesn’t make him a “sell-out” but it does make him rich (and a lot of people jealous). Would you have been more supportive had they given him the minimum? Perhaps then you might be claiming Kawasaki got a bargain. The only thing money does here is raise or lower the expectation, but does not change his talent. I’m sure had you been in the position to negotiate a contract, you may have talked them out of giving you a large paycheck. (What's that I hear?) Haha, man don't you know money gets hot chicks, and that is never a bad thing buddy.
Moving from Suzuki to Kawasaki was a lateral move to seek improvement. How long was he suppose to stay with a program that was making baby steps in improvement? I’m sure had he stayed on Suzuki he might have been criticized for not making the effort to move on from a perennially sub-par program. I’m sure the conversation at Kawasaki was NOT along the lines of: ‘we want to pay you a lot of money so our chances of wining will decrease.’ His salary is deserved if they were willing to pay, but it does NOTreflect his talent (+ or -); rather the negotiating success of his agent. (There are plenty of over paid/underpaid athletes).
When was the last time Kawasaki has won a MotoGP championship? Hopkins came fourth in the championship last year, right? So its not like they were looking for somebody to just ride around on their bike with a scary sponsor. The top three guys were tied up and so they signed the next biggest talent without a contract. And for this he is a “sell-out”? Because they paid him lots of money, did this suddenly change his 4th in championship points status?
Despite most here claiming to understand what is prototype racing, it amazes me how many continue to poke their heads in the sand. We tout the results but make very little consideration about the machine into the equation. Who here can say with a degree of confidence that the most talented riders like Rossi, Pedrosa, and Stoner could have won a championship on a Suzuki the last few years??? I’d say bringing that bike behind the number 1 factory Ducati/Honda/Yamaha was very commendable. ...., we had people crying about how the poor Yamaha was the reason why the great Rossi wasn’t more competitive (yet surely it was one of the top two bikes) now consider the Suzuki.
Those that question Hopkin’s talent because of his lack of results have very little understanding about MotoGP (present company excluded of course).
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mattsteg @ Apr 4 2008, 03:14 PM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>The problem is that people have the perception that the Kawasaki program sucks and the Suzuki was closing in on contention, so a lot of people don't see it as a lateral move at all, but rather a move from one bike that was improving to the point where race wins would be expected to one seen as a bit further back. How accurate either perception is is tough to tell. He's never been on a top bike so it's tough to judge his ceiling. The "sell out" perception comes from taking a big contract to ride for the the least successful team in the passock.I think a lot of people either wanted him to "finish what he started" and bring the Suzuki into contention or jump to one of the teams perceived as being better.Taking a big contract to move to what, rightly or wrongly, a lot of people see as an inferior position is pretty much the definition of a sellout.Yeah, it's reasonably commendable, but he barely beat his teammate and was well ahead of anyone on a Kawa. Moving to a bike that finished with scarcely more than half the points you scored is always going to make some people say sellout, especially if you have a personal sponsor that has the same colors of them and starts sponsoring that bike.
Calling someone a sellout isn't questioning their talent. It's questioning their desire to win. Unless the monsterbucks and Hopkins' riding turn the kawasaki into a consistent competitor, I can't help but apply the sellout label.
Everything is pretty well summed up here. I know the rumors flying around were that the Kawasaki was on the up and up and all it needed was a talented enough rider. That's all well and good but what about RdP? Many people rate him rather highly but discount him in the Kawasaki equation but that's really neither here nor there. So we have rumors and I'm sure promises from the factory that the bike will only get better and better with full support etc etc.
But what Hopkins had was a Suzuki effort that appeared and appears to be staying ahead of Kawasaki in development and performance. Especially after the years of hard work he put in there, to turn down Ducati to stay on at Suzuki, only to leave just when it was getting good? This is all before we mention the fact that Hopkins's personal sponsor switched from Red Bull to Monster in 2007 and Kawasaki's title sponsor in 2008 happens to be Monster.
That's my only point, take nothing away from him as a rider. I'm not saying he's ever going to win a world championship or even a race, I just think he's an admirable rider.
