Hopkins pleased with pace on return

The American has had to sit out the last three races while he recovered from the leg injuries sustained in his Assen qualifying crash, but he was fifth and eighth fastest in today's two sessions in the Czech Republic, despite crashing twice.

"It's a shame we had two minor falls today; I just lost the front while finding the limit, but it was nothing major," Hopkins said.

"My knee is quite sore, especially when I have to put a lot of weight on it to change direction, but it's holding out well and I'm looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow to continue with what we've learnt today."

Kawasaki have introduced chassis and engine upgrades for this race, and Hopkins was impressed with their effectiveness.

"The new engine parts have made a huge difference as the bike has more horsepower and improved power management," he said.

"The chassis upgrade has helped us to turn better, especially into the corners, but we need to work on getting a little more feedback from the front end."

Naoya Kaneko shared Hopkins' optimism, and believes his accidents are simply a sign that set-up changes are required tomorrow.

"Unfortunately John crashed in both sessions, so we need to improve the stability and feeling of his machine to enable him to push more," Kaneko said. "The overall review from practice is that these upgrades have made a big improvement; we just need to refine some areas further."