Hopkins can't wait for Wednesday.

After a disappointing end to the 2005 season at Valencia on Sunday, John Hopkins and Team Suzuki can't wait for Wednesday to arrive - when they will be back on track and working towards 2006.

Hopkins finished in 13th at the final round of the MotoGP World Championship, after dropping back from a high of ninth following grip problems.

"I got off to good start and went with Colin Edwards and Alex Barros. It was just push, push, push to try and get ahead," began Hopper. "But unfortunately I started to lose a bit of grip and my lap times dramatically dropped off and I had to change my riding style to make up for it.

"I got into a bit of a battle with Nakano and Elias and then Nobu (Aoki - team-mate) came by me but unfortunately his bike broke down, which was sad to see - that sucks for him. Other than that I got into another battle with Kiyonari and my lap times stayed consistent till the finish.

"It's not the position I wanted to finish the season on - that's for damn sure. But once Wednesday comes around we're going to start working on next year and we're going to get this bike going in 2006!" he declared.

Those words were backed up by team manager Paul Denning, who is determined to put Suzuki nearer the front of the 2006 MotoGP field.

"There are some positives to take out of (the race) as our race pace has improved over last year. The overall race time is over half a minute better than 2004 and we are over 20 seconds closer to the first place time," he said.

"Whilst we can be positive about these moves forward from 2004, the team, the riders, Suzuki and myself personally are far from satisfied with this level of performance and the winter months will be a true test of all of us to make sure that we fulfil a better potential in 2006," added Denning after his first season in MotoGP.

Hopkins and absent team-mate Kenny Roberts both finished equal 14th in the 2005 riders' championship - Roberts taking a best finish of second in the wet British Grand Prix, while Hopper's highest placing was fifth at Motegi.

Suzuki finished fifth in the 2005 manufacturers' championship - behind Yamaha, Honda, Ducati and Kawasaki - while Team Suzuki MotoGP were eighth in the teams' championship.

New Team Suzuki signing Chris Vermeulen will be joining Hopkins at the Valencia test.