Hopkins says injury won't be a problem

The Kawasaki rider injured himself in a crash during testing at Phillip Island last month and is yet to make a full recovery.

He believes, however, that the injury will not slow him down in the season opener.

"I'm real excited to start the year," said Hopkins. "I feel my injury should be fine come race day as the pain has subsided a lot compared to how it was feeling a week ago.

"We have had a restful few days, which I feel has helped it, and I have been doing small exercises to strengthen the muscles which have improved the condition dramatically. I feel good. Plus, once the adrenaline kicks in, I know I will be ready to go!

"As for the machine? I couldn't be keener. We made some successful steps forward with race tyres and a few other parts at the test last week and I'm ready to get the first race under my belt with the Kawasaki. Fingers crossed."

Teammate Anthony West admits he is worried about his pace, especially as he struggled for grip during the night test at Qatar.

"I'm not feeling as good as I'd like as my laptimes in testing weren't what I was hoping for," he said. "I'm quite concerned about the temperatures at night in Qatar as it was so cold and that affected the tyres more than I was comfortable with.

"But we still made loads of big improvements to the bike. I'm really pleased with the feeling I'm getting from the new chassis and the set up generally has really come together over the testing season.

"But I'm keen to get back to racing now. Physically, I'm feeling fit and a lot stronger so I'm ready to get on with it."