John Hopkins has formally announced his plans for 2009 after losing his Kawasaki MotoGP ride following the teams collapse. Hopper posted an update on his blog stating that he was joining STIGGY HONDA in World Superbikes. Hopkins will team up with Leon Haslam and join for the third round. At the moment, WSBK is going from strength to strength, whilst MotoGP seems to be choking itself on economic worries, politics, diminishing grids and a lack of sponsorship deals – Hopkins may well find that he made a move to World Superbikes at just the right time.

John Hopkins Press Release:

Hey everyone,

Here is my official release. It will go out to all other media as of Tomorrow.

Like always, Thanks again for all of your support, it means alot to me.
Hopper.

JOHN HOPKINS RACING IN VALENCIA’S WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP

Carlsbad, CA – March 19, 2009 – MotoGP star, John Hopkins, is set to race his Stiggy Honda CBR1000RR in the third stop of the World Superbike Championship in Valencia, Spain, on April 3rd-5th.

Hopkins was set to race in his second year of a two year contract with Kawasaki when the factory announced on January 9th they would no longer be participating in the MotoGP Championship Series. Since this decision, Hopkins has respectfully settled with Kawasaki. Hopkins finished on the podium four times in the 2007 MotoGP Championship en route to finishing fourth in the title chase on a factory Suzuki. He then moved to Kawasaki, but ended the 2008 championship in 16th place after suffering a myriad of injuries. He is now focused on the remaining 2009 season and excited to race in Valencia with his new team.

“Kawasaki and I worked it out where both parties left the relationship happy, and I am thankful to Kawasaki for letting me ride their bikes and race in their program. I’m excited about racing in the 2009 season and solely putting my focus on moving forward,” said Hopkins.

John Hopkins will continue to be sponsored by Monster Energy Drink, Alpinestars, Arai Helmets and Spy Optic.

Stiggy Honda also released a press release on the news:

Stigefelt: Signing Hopkins a dream come true!

Johan Stigefelt has described the acquisition of John Hopkins to his eponymous World Superbike team as a ‘dream come true’.

Following Hopkins’ earlier announcement of his plans to join Stiggy Racing, the team confirmed the former MotoGP rider will replace Roberto Rolfo from the Valencia round onwards.

A substantial coup for the privateer Honda team, Hopkins follows in the footsteps of Max Biaggi, Makoto Tamada and Shinya Nakano in making the switch from MotoGP, prompted when previous employers Kawasaki withdrew from the series.

For Stigefelt, Hopkins, a veteran of seven seasons in MotoGP, will provide the rookie Superbike team with invaluable experience

“To be able to have John in our team is like a dream come true for all of us. It will put more pressure on our performance, but Leon, his crew and the whole team have done a great job so far and I am confident we can give John a good bike and a good structure.

Being a new team, everything is new to us and so we must learn each track as we go along. With no previous data to work with, we are mainly developing the bike during race weekends and sometimes it can take a whole weekend to find the right settings.

Our intention is to be the best Honda out there and beat as many factory teams as possible. It will be difficult but, seeing what we have achieved already and the experience we are gaining every day, I am confident we can compete at the top.”

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