World Superbike Championship Stiggy Racing Honda Round 04 Assen Friday April 24 Superbike QP1 Hopkins Crashes in Assen Practice Only four a laps into the opening practice session in Assen today, Stiggy Racing Honda rider John Hopkins high-sided off his bike and sustained serious injuries. The session was red-flagged while John Hopkins was taken to hospital and diagnosed with a dislocated left hip. He will return to the USA to undergo further treatment. A blow in the face for the Stiggy Racing Team and their new arrival, who made his second appearance for the team in Assen this weekend. Leon Haslam set out to continue his good form in Assen this morning and showed good pace throughout both sessions. He set the fourth fastest time in the opening session, but initially struggled through the Qualifying Practice after changing directions in the development of his bike. Back on track, with only a few minutes left on the clock, Haslam set out for a fast lap and finished the day in tenth position with a best time of 1’39.585s. The entire top ten qualified within 0.8s off the time set by fastest man Ben Spies who dominated the first day of Superbike qualifying. Leon Haslam, 1’39.585s: “Everything went according to plan in this morning’s session. It was good to get back to Assen, which is one of my favourite tracks. I had never ridden the new layout of the track before and had to learn the first sections that have changed, but was happy with my fourth place in the Free Practice. This afternoon we tried various different things which didn’t all lead to the result we had planned. I managed to get out again with only ten minutes to go and was able to pick up the pace again. I ended up at P10 and improved my best time with 0.6s. We know what we will have to focus on now, and I’m confident I can further improvements in tomorrow’s sessions.” John Hopkins: ” It looks like I am continuing my bad luck here in Assen two years in a row. I didn’t even get five laps under my belt this time. I had a huge high-side and landed feet first, which dislocated my hip and cracked the top of my femur. For about three hours, until they placed me in the operating room and put my hip back into place, I was in the most excruciating pain I have ever been in my life. I was really motivated to race here this weekend and initially I felt really good from the moment I jumped on the bike, but this is just bad luck. Now I will just have to recuperate. I will fly home tomorrow night and will have surgery monday morning if necessary. The biggest problem will be the muscles. All the ligaments and muscles around the femur are torn, which is a lot worse then actual broken bones. If there was no muscle damage, I would be back racing in two weeks, now we will have to wait for the proper evaluation.” Johan Stigefelt, Team manager: “What a start of the weekend! I Really regret what happened to John this morning. We were looking forward to seeing him race this weekend, but unfortunately, this is racing and we are unable to predict these situations. John hurt himself badly, and will need further examination in the US. Hopefully he will recover soon and be able to ride for us again. I am pleased with Leon’s performance this morning. We were heading in a good direction this morning, but changed too much in the afternoon as we had several things we wanted to test. For tomorrow’s session, we know which direction we will have to take now. We are not too far away from the race set-up yet. Leon is capable of running a good pace even after his tyres have worn out. I expect him to work his way to the front of the field tomorrow.”