Hopkins hospitalised by infection

John Hopkins's lingering hand injury is continuing to give him woes heading into the off season after he was rushed into hospital having contracted an infection.

The American, who broke fingers in his hand back in August during a MotoGP wild-card outing at Brno, soldiered on through the remaining British Superbike rounds to finish runner-up to Tommy Hill.

However, three months down the line, Hopkins has since revealed, in a series of 'tweets' on his Twitter account, that he was taken to hospital early in the morning [Saturday] to have emergency surgery after getting an infection due to his body struggling to accept the new bone.

"Been a very rough day! Was rushed to the hospital at 4am due to severe swelling/pain/infection and had to have an emergency surgery, which now makes it the 4th on this finger (26 in total)! Infection caused by body struggling to take the new bone! All is fixed again and back on track! So sick of the smallest bone I've ever broke giving by far the worst drama but Dr says 3 more weeks & it'll be healed! (sic)"

Nonetheless, Hopkins, who has already revealed he will be racing in MotoGP or the World Superbike Championship in 2012, remains in good spirits.

"Set backs are part of the game & I have every intention of bouncing back better than ever! Feel like career's just getting started mentally!"