Following the highs of Brno, Kawasaki came back to earth with a considerable bump at Misano after struggling to just 13th and 14th place finishes on a weekend that saw them playing catch-up from day one.
Keen to capitalise on
Anthony West's fifth place in the Czech Republic, Kawasaki were instead left with an uphill battle when they were restricted to just one bike during free practice as
John Hopkins sat out to save himself from further injury.
Indeed, the Anglo-American was ailing all weekend with discomfort from the injury, picked up at Brno, and struggled to find a solution in time for the race.
Initially dicing with team-mate West, Hopkins would eventually finish 14th and last, while West fared little better in 13th. While it means they still scored five points for Kawasaki, it was a disappointing performance all round according to competition manager Michael Bartholemy.
"Today has been difficult for us, and this result is not what we had expected after Brno. Anthony has struggled with a lack of confidence all weekend and, although he set his fastest lap of all of the sessions during the race, it wasn't enough to bridge the gap to the other riders.
“John lost out on a lot of track time this weekend, so he was always going to be at a disadvantage today. After suffering with so many challenges lately, he is quite down. It's always tough coming back from an injury, but he knows that he needs to put that behind him, get his head down and get on with securing the results we know he's capable of.”
Hopkins, meanwhile, insists he will be fit in time for his home round at Indianapolis when he begins receiving intensive treatment
"This weekend has been frustratingly tough for us. Having aggravated the injury to my rib we missed two sessions and basically ran out of time to set the bike up. We got a good start to the race, but I was suffering with quite a lot of discomfort from the injury and I just couldn't push as hard as I wanted to.
