Hopper's lowside fall occurred at the almost 360вк turn one, and his starting position is particularly frustrating given that he was fifth fastest on Friday and eighth this morning.
"We were expecting a lot better than this after three good practice sessions here," admitted Hopkins, who took his first
MotoGP podium at Shanghai last year. "The bike feels strong at this circuit, we know we have a good race tyre for tomorrow if it's dry and I'm feeling confident. But we've made our job a lot harder by not qualifying higher up the grid.
"We had two different types of qualifying tyre today, and one type worked well, but I made a couple of mistakes on my flying laps. The other type was virtually unusable because of the chatter it induced. In fact it was so bad, it virtually bounced me off the bike at the start of my last qualifying run.
"I'm disappointed because I was expecting much better but we've got a good set-up for the race. Now I just need to get my head down and go as hard as I can from the start," added the #21.
Team-mate
Anthony West remained on two wheels but suffered another nightmare session and will start from last place for the second time in four starts - but could provide a massive upset if, as predicted, the race is wet.
"We came into this weekend with high hopes after a successful test at Estoril but we've ended up disappointed again," said Ant. "We seem to have the same problem that's been plaguing us since the start of the season, where the bike just seems to spin up as soon as you touch the throttle on corner exit.
"John doesn't seem to have the same issues, so we know it's not a fundamental problem, but for now we're struggling to find a solution. It's frustrating but we're not giving up and I'll push as hard as I can," he insisted. "Rain is forecast and, while most people will be hoping it stays dry, a wet race wouldn't be unwelcome on my side of the pit box!"
