John Hopkins: 1st American on BSB Pole

2011 Snetterton British Superbike

For the first time in British Superbike history, and American will start from the pole. Samsung Crescent Suzuki’s John Hopkins put on an amazing performance Saturday at Snetterton, Round 6 of the 2011 British Superbike Championship, taking the top spot, having over a second on the man starting second, Swan Yamaha’s Tommy Hill.

Joining Hopkins on the front row will be his Suzuki teammate, Jon Kirham.

John Hopkins (Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000) says: "I’m simply loving this place. It’s a long and flowing lap and the corners are allowing the bike to two-wheel drift in so many places – I’m sure the fans must be loving it, too.

"I have to thank my mechanics again today. We had a shifter issue this morning that was niggling us, so they skipped lunch and made a full engine swap before qualifying. The bike was brilliant; they’d missed nothing. So now I’d like to do the double tomorrow, to say thanks to them!"

2011 British Superbike: Snetterton Qualifying Results:
1. John Hopkins (Samsung Crescent Racing Suzuki) 1m: 47.451s
2. Tommy Hill (Swan Yamaha) +0.545s
3. Jon Kirkham (Samsung Crescent Racing Suzuki) +0.869s
4. Josh Brookes (Relentless Suzuki) +1.006s
5. Loris Baz (Motorpoint Yamaha) +1.363s
6. Shane Byrne (HM Plant Honda) +1.477s
7. James Westmoreland (Motorpoint Yamaha) +1.572s
8. Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda) +1.705s
9. Chris Walker (Pr1mo Racing Kawasaki) +1.774s
10. Alex Lowes (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +2.317s