Denning: John was obviously visibly upset...

Rizla Suzuki team manager Paul Denning has said that John Hopkins will face no form of punishment for 'physically' venting his frustration on his GSV-R, after yet another technical failure in Saturday's Qatar Grand Prix.

Hopkins, who had suffered repeated technical failures in the run-up to the race (lower pic), charged from 13th to eighth - and the head of the second pack - within 3 of the 22 laps. The Anglo-American, who had been an impressive fourth in morning warm-up, was confident he could then catch the lead group ahead, but his bike then began losing performance, and fluid, after a 'cooling system fault' - and ground to a halt on lap 5 (top picture).

"I got a great start and I felt extremely good during the first couple of laps and made a lot of passes. I felt like I could have got past the guys in front of me but then the bike gradually lost performance and that was it - it was all over," Hopkins recalled later. "I am really disappointed, all my team and everyone here at Rizla Suzuki have worked hard all weekend and it's such a shame for all of us that it has happened like this."

That disappointment proved too much to contain at the time, with John repeatedly kicking his parked machine - and punching the ground - as he let off a weekend's worth of frustration at the side of the racetrack. Unfortunately, the 'meltdown' was caught on camera and beamed around the world, but Denning admitted it was hard to be overly critical of his rider's reaction.

"John's bike felt so much better than it had done all weekend. He made a good start and he was sure that he could catch the riders in front of him. Unfortunately, the performance of the bike tapered off to a point where it finally stopped," said Denning. "John was obviously visibly upset and after the weekend that he has had I don't think it would be human not to let some of that frustration out - and nothing more will be said on the subject."

Hopper's team-mate Chris Vermeulen - who stopped the morning warm-up session when he suffered an engine failure - also retired from the race, just three laps after the #21, while holding 12th.

"Chris' bike suffered a similar problem to John's and I know that Suzuki will be working night and day to find out what it is exactly and rectify it - we will certainly have much better days than this," declared Denning.