Kawasaki hope for strong home form

The American hasn't bettered his fifth place finish at Motegi in 2005 in the last two seasons, but says he likes the circuit and hopes his worst luck is already behind him this season after missing three races in the middle of the year through injury.

"Motegi has never been a circuit that's been kind to me, even last year, which was my best season so far, Motegi was definitely my worst round," said Hopkins. "However, maybe this is the year we can turn it around after all of the bad luck we've had with injury."

But the Kawasaki team have a good record at Motegi following Randy de Puniet's second-place finish in last year's race.

"It's a track I actually enjoy, the fans and atmosphere are all a lot of fun, and the circuit layout is good too.

"This is Kawasaki's second home round so it would be really nice if we can do well here. It would be great to finish the final few rounds of 2008 with strong results."