Hopkins 'beat up' by 120mph highside.

Rizla Suzuki's John Hopkins set the pace early on during the final day of the official MotoGP test in Qatar... until a 120mph highside just before lunch left him hospitalised with potential fractures to both his hand and foot.

Hopkins had been testing new Bridgestone qualifying tyres at the time of his fall, after which he was taken to Doha hospital. The Anglo-American has suspected fractures in his right hand and foot, but the team are still hopeful that he will be able to attend next week's final pre-season test in Spain - and Hopper claimed that he'll definitely be present for the 2007 season opener, again at Qatar, on March 10.

"I'm feeling pretty beat up at the moment - a 120mph high-side does that to you!" said John with a wry smile. "I've got bruises on all four limbs and a couple of broken bones. I'm flying straight back to England to see a specialist first thing tomorrow [Friday], and then we'll know a bit more about the injuries. It was a sad way to end the test because we had made good progress here. I am quite happy with the way the three days went and we got through everything we needed to before the crash. I'm sure we'll be in a good position when we come back here in about three weeks and I'll certainly be at the first race - just try and stop me!"

"John has had some x-rays here and he has possible fractures to his hand and foot," confirmed team manager Paul Denning. "We will know more on Monday because the swelling in his hand was too much to get a clear indication of what he has done. Once he has been assessed we will know whether he will be at Jerez for the test next week."

Despite the accident, Hopkins - sixth fastest on day two - still finished the test an impressive second fastest since his 1min 55.825secs pre-fall best was beaten only by Honda's Dani Pedrosa, also using qualifying tyres.

Team-mate Chris Vermeulen was a less spectacular, but pain free, 15th fastest after setting his best lap on race tyres.

"We made a lot of progress over the three day test in the engine, chassis and tyre areas," declared Chris. "I did a race distance run of 22 laps and although we are still looking for a little bit more speed we are certainly in a much stronger position now than we were 12 months ago. The track temperatures dropped this afternoon so I didn't get the chance to test some qualifying tyres, but we have got John's information on them so that's good. I would like to pass on my best wishes to John, obviously he had a big crash today and I hope he's alright and will be back riding at Jerez. He did a lot of good work here and we hope he is fully fit soon."

"Overall this has been a really positive test for the whole team with the exception of what happened to John today," added Denning. "We have run full race distances with both riders and the bikes have given us 100% consistency. Chris never got the chance to run qualifiers, but John did this morning and he was extremely quick. The durability of the Bridgestone tyres has been very good which is great - Qatar has always been a difficult track to get the tyre choice right. We are very pleased to be as close to the pace as we are and there is still a bit more to find to run right at the front.

"The dedication shown by all team members and the fitness levels of the two guys has been great throughout the whole test season, and, despite this small set back for John, we are looking more and more ready to take that next step up every time we go out on track!" the Briton concluded.