Hopkins angry about gesture fine

The Rizla Suzuki rider pulled alongside Checa and made a kicking movement towards him, followed by a series of gesticulations, near the end of the session, having felt he had been baulked by the LCR Honda.

"I wouldn't say he's an idiot - I mean everyone gets in the way of other riders - but on an out-lap he was blatantly in the way and it was blatantly ridiculous," Hopkins said.

The American had been quick throughout practice, but only managed seventh on the grid after the incident.

He was angry at the decision to fine him when Sylvain Guintoli had escaped censure for triggering the Friday practice crash that left Alex Hofmann with a severe hand injury.

"I think it's ridiculous," Hopkins said.

"Look what's gone on earlier this weekend - Guintoli just completely annihilated Hofmann and there's no penalty there.

"There's no penalty for anybody ever getting in the way. I never actually physically made contact with Carlos, it was just the gesture on TV."

Checa said he was slowing for a yellow flag incident and was not shown any blue flags warning him of an approaching rider.

"I was disappointed to see the reaction of John," he said. "It was unfortunate but perhaps John should control his reactions in these situations and be a little more calm."

Hopkins believes the riders must discuss track etiquette in qualifying - with particular reference to the final minutes of the session when the field switches to qualifying rubber.

"We do need to talk, like we always do, about these qualifying laps, because even at the end of that there were other riders out just rolling around, waiting to get the chequered flag so they could do a practice start," he said.

"I think I was in (Valentino) Rossi's way mid-session, coming down the Corkscrew, but that's not on the qualifying tyres."

The incident between Hopkins and Checa was not the only traffic-related controversy of the session.

Marco Melandri was lucky to escape from a huge accident ten minutes into qualifying with relatively minor leg injuries, having clipped Kurtis Roberts after the KR rider let off the power.