Globe Hopper: Sad news from South Africa.

On the eve of the season-opening Africa's Grand Prix, Desiree Crossman has sadly announced that she and John Hopkins are no longer together and so, after providing an unprecedented insight behind the scenes of MotoGP for over a year, her regular reports will come to a close after this weekend's event.

Nevertheless, the pair remain close friends and Des will continue to support John - and send updates, albeit at less regular intervals - throughout his second season with Suzuki...

"Hello everyone,

"I do apologise for the late email. We arrived here a few days ago but it's been a royal pain trying to connect to the net. There are only three usable aol numbers down here and so it hasn't been the easiest to get on. I finally managed to do so, but the connection is weak so I will write as fast and as efficiently as I can without either getting kicked off or beating up the computer for being so slow.

"We left on Easter Sunday, which didn't feel like Easter Sunday. I don't mean to toot our horn but we got a free upgrade to first class on British Airways so we were styling to London. It's not that big of difference really, only thing is they give you pyjamas to wear that's all.

"Once we arrived into London, we had a few hours to kill so we went to John's cousin's house in London and hung out. John and his cousin played a round of golf while I sat with his wife eating the damn English sausages.

"I don't like eating sausages at home, but every time I go to England, I kill for one, or two, or three, and so on. It was a nice layover before heading down to South Africa. We met up with the team around 7:30 and we all flew down.

"Once we got in, we got our hire car and drove two hours to Welkom. It seems forever long 'cause it's just straight roads all the way down and everything around is flat. We didn't pull any Rand out of the cash machine which we should have done 'cause we thought the toll booths take credit cards.

"Little did we know, and we were sitting there swiping a card that's not usable at the toll booths. It was funny, 'cause we looked like dorks but luckily we were travelling with another caravan so they spotted us some money. Next time, we'll pull some money out before heading back.

"The weather down here is lovely and warm in the southern hemisphere. Should be good. And now for a bit of sad news, John and I are no longer an item. We are, however, still friends and I will still support him in going to a few races this year, but I won't be going to all of them anymore.

"So, that means I won't be doing my updates as much as I use to. Some people maybe happy and some maybe sad, but I will write to let you know how he's doing. Some of you are probably wondering why we split, but we just did and it's not bad. We're very secure in our friendship so it will work out. I am a bit sad though 'cause I do enjoy writing, we'll see how it goes. Anyway, enough of that.

"I will write more from the season opener down here in South Africa. I'm excited for the racing to start, 'cause competition will be fierce.

"Until tomorrow, bye for now,"

Desiree