Kawasaki won't rush Hopkins return

Hopkins injured his abductor muscle in a crash on the second day of testing at Phillip Island and, after flying back home to the United States today, he is expected to undergo a scan at the start of next week.

Kawasaki competition manager Michael Bartholemy suggested that the team would not rush Hopkins back to action, and that it was better that he got his injury completely sorted now before the season got into full swing.

"Hopefully we'll have John back for Jerez, but we'll know more when he's had the chance to consult with his doctor in San Francisco on Monday," said Bartholemy. "The injury is not serious, but it's one that could cause ongoing problems if it isn't treated properly now."

Kawasaki are also hoping that Hopkins' teammate Anthony West can make a step forward with his fitness, having had his winter training regime interrupted by a wrist operation.

Bartholemy added: "I think Anthony's had a bit of a wake up call over the past two weeks. He did a good job coming into the team midway through last season and scoring points on a bike he'd never ridden before, but now he's learning just how much work goes into developing a factory MotoGP bike like the Ninja ZX-RR ahead of the first race.

"He's been hampered by the wrist operation he had in December, but I think even he'd admit that he underestimated just how hard testing was going to be physically. Now we need to look at his training program over the coming weeks, to ensure he's at least approaching full fitness for the Jerez and Qatar tests."

West said: "These last two weeks have been a tough introduction to pre-season testing for me. After the wrist operation in December, I knew I wasn't going to have the training time that I probably needed, but I was surprised at just how physically demanding I've found these two tests."