Real world rides, real world riders

0.006 of a second sorts it

To explain why it was so good, I need to explain the background to the final round. And to do that I need to explain who the two main protagonists of this story are, complete with their own compelling back story.

In one corner we have John Hopkins. “Hopper” is one of the most naturally gifted and hard-working riders in the world. He came through the ranks of AMA racing stateside, found his way into MotoGP and many times over demonstrated that he was one of the genuine front runners in the Blue Riband class. But John suffered from demons. At the time John was on serious pain medication to help him cope with huge injuries suffered in monstrous crashes. To help him cope with the withdrawal from them he fell into a very dark and self-destructive path, using drink to get by on a day-by-day basis.

His career and personal life fell apart. As John once told me: “I was at the very bottom. I was so low that I finally realised that the only way I was going to stop this and not end up as a bum on the street was to ask for help. It was a massive step for me but I asked for help and it began there.” Hopper was given a second chance to race again with the Crescent Suzuki BSB team. He took it.

On the other side of the story is Tommy Hill. Here was a rider who nearly died as a result of a motocross accident when he was a kid (he lost a kidney and his spleen), switched to road racing in 2001 on a limited budget that ran out in 2003, scraped enough money together to enter the Yamaha R6 one-make series and got noticed. He eventually found his way onto the world scene where his thigh was badly broken twice in the space of a few months, each injury having the potential to end his career with the smallest of chances of Tommy being able to walk properly, let alone ride again.

He came back to the UK with a ride last year for the Suzuki squad, and lost the BSB title in the final round to Ryuichi Kiyonari on the Honda. Behind the scenes Tommy’s personal life was being torn apart by his dad’s stomach cancer and the havoc that illness caused the family. Thankfully, his dad is making a good recovery.

Going into the final race, after 26 races, it all boiled down to just two points between Hill and Hopper. The pair danced around with each other for most of the race, only concentrating on where the other was until three laps from the end when the pace quickened and it all came down to the final five minutes of racing between the two of them.

That last lap was astonishing. It barely seemed to register that there were 35 other riders out there at the same time, it certainly didn’t register that Shane Byrne was several seconds ahead of the hard-battling duo and sure of the win. Ultimately that was because, for this race, for this lap, it didn’t matter.

They swapped place six times on that lap, each move was hard but fair. No quarter asked, given or expected for surrender. Six times. And it came down to the last corner.

Hopper had the gearing right, providing he got the sweeping line onto the start/finish straight he needed then he’d be quicker to the line. Normally.

Tommy had seen where Hopper was smooth and fast in that last third of the lap, he’d watched his opponent closely during the first half of the race. Hill had a plan.
Into the last turn Tommy went down to second gear instead of third as he had every lap before he squared the corner off and cracked the throttle. He’d just have to deal with the bike getting out of shape underneath him.

It worked. He won. Just.

After eight months of racing, 26 races and two careers of highs and massive lows between them, Hill and Hopper were split over the line by 0.006s. The closest ever finish in BSB history.

The mood was ecstatic by the track, the celebrations for Hill immense and the disappointment for Hopper massive. It was a shame that John was denied as strongly as it was superb that Tommy took the crown.

It was, without doubt, the most exciting finish to the best BSB season we’ve ever seen. A special moment delivered by very special riders on their absolute limit.

Have a safe ride.

Tony