American John Hopkins' '08 season has been trying and painful. He intends to be back on the bike at Brno. image by dean adams

John Hopkins has gone through hell and back for the sport, and occupation, that he loves. Little did he know years ago that, when he assumed the moniker of "Hopper", it would be as much a definition of his convalescence as it is merely a nickname. And, while other riders (Carlos Checa comes to mind) often crash with nary an injury, Hopkins has had to endure more than his fair share of casts, surgeries, and recoveries. We talked with John at Laguna Seca, and despite the roadracing spills, the thrills of being a factory MotoGP rider have not left him. He is just as motivated as ever---if not more so.

Q Your current health status?

A All right. Feeling all right. I went to Dr. Ting's yesterday. Flew into the area yesterday. Everything's going all right. The wounds are almost already completely healed, after just a week. I'm already walking on it, even though I'm not allowed to be. I've still got to do one week without no weight or anything. But the knee and ankle are getting better, a lot better.

Q So you'll be ready for Brno, you think?

A That's the plan. That's the ultimate plan. I want to be ready for Brno. They're getting some new motor parts. It's been good, this little break. I've been home. Maybe just a blessing in disguise. It was just a little break, clear my head and get my - have time for my back injury to heal up a little bit. Right now I'm feeling really good. Feeling really motivated. The whole time I was sitting at home, I was sitting there watching - because you sleep during the day and stuff, when you've got an injury. So I'd be up all night, have the computer on my main screen on my TV, so I'm up watching all the live timing all the way through Germany. I couldn't get away from it, but I can't wait to get back out there. It just sucks I can't be here riding.

Q When are you going to be able to start training again?

A They said one more week before I can start doing some work in the pool and stuff. Just to give it a little bit more time for all the bolts in the ankle to just settle.

Q You didn't get a break at all with the other injury. It's been one right on top of the other. That's tough, really tough.

A It was just - man, I was getting dragged down and getting dragged under and getting dragged under. It just felt like I was - I was just barely hanging on. It was almost as if I was just barely hanging on to sanity. Because the pain was so bad. I was living through the pain, and then having to ride through the pain, and then when I'd get home, I wasn't able to train, and I was just resting, and then I'd try and overtrain, so I was actually making the injuries worse, so I wasn't actually giving time for my body to recover. So right now, this last couple of weeks have been really good. Now we have the summer break after this, so I'm sure I'll be going to Brno with a whole new outlook.

Q Was the pressure from yourself to keep getting on the bike, or was it pressure from the team?

A No, pressure from myself. Pressure on myself, entirely. It was all down to myself to go out. I'm paid to go out and perform, and that's what I wanted to do, is perform at my maximum level, but little did I know that I was actually - by not giving myself time to recover, I was just going out and maybe riding at70-80% instead of coming out at 100% every time.

Q What about Anthony West? He complained at Germany that he had three crashes, all in the front end, and you had some front end problems. This seems sudden for him, but have you noticed the front end all along? Or how do you explain his crashes?

On Anthony West: "To be honest, I don't know. I think he's just trying to over-ride. I know he wants to try and keep his job, or maintain the best job that he can. So he's really trying to push, and ride harder than he has done all previous throughout the rest of the year."

A To be honest, I don't know. I think he's just trying to over-ride. I know he wants to try and keep his job, or maintain the best job that he can. So he's really trying to push, and ride harder than he has done all previous throughout the rest of the year. But I don't know. I haven't really heard much about his crashes. I haven't spoke to the team much about it. But I'm pretty confident in my front. I just made a couple of mistakes at Assen. But I think the front end's pretty good on the bike, and the chassis' all right.

Q Your groin injury at the beginning of the season. Those things can be brutal.

A It was a nightmare. It was the worst injury I've ever endured in my life, for sure, was the groin injury. It just wasn't getting any better at all. And then it was crazy, because once I went to the doctor to go see, in Barcelona I went to the specialist that Pedrosa and those guys see, and they did my back X-ray, and then I had fractured my 4th vertebra. And it also came clear that during the crash I'd actually broken my hip. Because he asked me, the doctor comes to me and he says, "Hey, so when did you break your hip?" I said, "I didn't know that I did." And he goes, "Well, it's not brand new. It's not fresh. But it's - I can tell it's been within the last year or so." And I said, "Well, maybe that explains all my damned pain that I had at the beginning of the year." Because all the soft tissue stuff, it was quite apparent what had happened. But it still felt like it was more pain in there than what was being shown on stuff. And then it just took a simple X-ray, and they found a massive chip on the right side of my hip.

Q Was that from the crash in Australia?

A Yeah. But it - once I'd spoke to Ting about that - one thing about the hip injuries and stuff, sometimes it takes a couple weeks for those things to appear on X-rays, if you don't get the full bone scan into the hip, because it can slowly separate over time. So it didn't actually separate until a couple weeks after.