Hopkins hopeful of turnaround

The American only qualified 12th at Motegi, but felt his disappointing position was more due to his own error than a lack of speed in the bike.

"From yesterday to today we've definitely made a big improvement with the bike, particularly in the rear end grip and braking stability," said Hopkins, who could only finish 14th in the last two races.

"The Bridgestone tyres are working well here, and we're now using the same specification front tyre that the other competitors have been on for some time.

"We had to make a few set-up changes to suit this, but my confidence is growing, so we're back on track and going in the right direction.

"I was hoping to be in the top ten, but I made a mistake on my last qualifying tyre and we didn't get the best run, which prevented us from achieving a higher starting position.

"However, it's a better result than we've had in the last few rounds and our race pace is strong, so we're looking for a good start, and I hope we can get away to fight for a good finish, especially as it's Kawasaki's second home event."

Hopkins' teammate Anthony West's troubles continued as he qualified only 17th - although he expects to improve in the race.

"I'm obviously disappointed to have qualified so far down the grid, but we've made some progress today," said West.

"We made some changes from this morning to this afternoon and this made a huge difference in the way the bike handled on a race tyre, giving me a lot more confidence and the ability to run consistently good times.

"We just didn't have enough time to continue our progress, but it's the first time I've felt really comfortable on the bike for a while and I hope this will transfer into a better result for us in tomorrow's race."