Kawasaki Two Prepared for GP Portugal
Round three of the 2008 MotoGP World Championship takes place at Estoril this weekend and will see the premier class teams gather on Sunday for a demanding, 28-lap race.After the historic night race at Qatar, followed by the recent battle at Jerez, the Portuguese Grand Prix should prove another thrilling event, held at the notoriously difficult 4.182km circuit.
Kawasaki's John Hopkins is looking forward to it. With his fitness steadily approaching 100% after his crash at Phillip Island in January, the Anglo-American is looking stronger than ever and feels he can tackle Estoril with relish after finishing a healthy seventh in Spain last month.
Furthermore, an extra day's testing at Jerez, after the race, proved highly productive as the 24-year-old continues to perfect adjustments to the Ninja ZX-RR to suit his fast, aggressive riding style. With his engineers concentrating on gearing and suspension settings to accommodate Estoril's numerous, tough corners, heavy braking will be the order of the day and the crew has been aiming to maximise stability to deal with the arduous race.
Hopkins' team mate, Anthony West, looked stronger at Jerez than he has for a while and his raised confidence, both in himself and the ZX-RR, showed his fighting spirit is far from on the wane. The 27-year old Australian fought hard and is now keen to see what he can pull out of the hat at Estoril.
Last year, West's first MotoGP outing at the circuit proved tricky. The track is notoriously hard on tyres and his traction suffered. However, he still managed to finish 12th after qualifying in 16th.
Estoril is one of the slowest tracks in the MotoGP calendar but it nonetheless represents a huge challenge to the premier class riders as it snakes its way through 13 corners, including numerous hairpins and a very nasty chicane near its northern parameters. Then there's the famous long, stretched-out, tyre-eating Parabolica, which sees the bikes at maximum lean for what must seem like an eternity before they get on the gas for the 986m start finish straight. There, spectators can regularly see the bikes reach speeds of up to 320kmh so there's plenty of guaranteed entertainment value.Built in 1972, the circuit, close to Portugal's Atlantic coast and not far from capital city, Lisbon, hosted its first MotoGP round in 2000 and has witnessed some of the closest racing in the championship's history.
Last year's race was won by Valentino Rossi, who provided edge-of-your-seat action with Spaniard, Dani Pedrosa, as the two diced for the front. Rossi's victory was particularly significant for Casey Stoner, whose crowning as the 2007 MotoGP World Champion had to wait another week, until after the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi.
With both Kawasaki Racing Team riders so evidently raring to go, and the ZX-RR looking even better than ever, who knows what Sunday will bring...
