Hopkins, 22, Could Be the Next in Line

From 1978, when Kenny Roberts left Modesto to display California-style motorcycle racing to the rest of the world, to Wayne Rainey in 1992, riders from the Golden State won 10 of the 15 world road-racing championships.

Roberts, who introduced the frightening knees-scraping-the-road technique of leaning through sweeping high-speed turns, won three, and Eddie Lawson of Upland won four before Rainey left Downey to win his three.

Since 1992, however, only Kenny Roberts Jr. in 2000 has brought the championship back to California.

John Hopkins, from the San Diego suburb of Ramona, hopes someday to join that group. He and Roberts Jr. are teammates on Team Suzuki in the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix this weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey.

There is nothing in Hopkins’ resume -- except enthusiasm -- to indicate he will challenge Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi or the powerful Honda team in this year’s MotoGP championship series.

However, Hopkins, at 22, is much younger than were any of his predecessors from California and has reached the premier series without a portfolio of national championships, as the others had.

Hopkins, whose parents are from England, was born in Los Angeles. He is in his fourth year at his sport’s highest level, but is still the youngest rider in MotoGP.

Two early experiences turned him to Grand Prix racing.

“My dad had raced a bit in England and when I was 5, he took the family to a motocross park,” Hopkins said during an-off week at home. “When I saw those little 50cc bikes racing, I told my dad that’s what I wanted.”

After riding for a few years, mostly at motocross tracks in Barona Oaks and Perris, Hopkins tried his hand at road racing.

“We were at Willow Springs one day and my dad was trying to talk me into road racing,” he said. “I got to ride a 125cc Grand Prix bike and when I got it up to 120 mph, I was hooked. You can’t imagine what a thrill that is when you’re only 12 years old.”

Hopkins’ father died shortly after that and John dedicated his life to racing in his memory. Showcasing his allegiance to past and present, he has a tattoo on his back of a woman holding British and American flags.

John Ulrich, who combines magazine writing with racing and running his own Suzuki team, lost a race to Hopkins, then 15, at Willow Springs one day and was so impressed he invited the teenager to join his team.

Hopkins rode his first race outside Willow Springs at Road Atlanta and a year later had his first professional ride. Ulrich recommended him to Peter Clifford of Red Bull Yamaha and in 2002, still a teenager, Hopkins was riding in the MotoGP series.

Limited campaigning in the U.S. brought him victories in the Aprilia Cup Challenge in 1999, 750 supersport in 2000 and Formula Xtreme in 2001.

In his rookie MotoGP season, Hopkins set a goal of scoring a top-10 finish. He got it in his sixth race, finishing seventh in the Dutch TT. In 2003 he left Yamaha and teamed with Roberts Jr. on Suzukis.

After seven races this year, Hopkins ranks 14th, five spots ahead of Roberts, with a best finish of seventh in China.

“Laguna Seca should be good for us,” he said. “It is not as fast as the European tracks, which should help Suzuki. Our bikes can’t keep up with Honda or Yamaha on speed, but they handle well in the corners and without a straightaway that’s mostly what Laguna Seca is all about.”

Hopkins recently bought a home in England, near the Donington Park track where MotoGP will run in two weeks. His first move was to build a motocross track on the property.

“I still love motocross and I found that there is a strong parallel between them,” he said. “For instance, in motocross you have to learn to judge the amount of speed you need to clear a jump and come out with the bike at the proper angle for the next turn.

“On a road bike, you need the same information, how fast and how deep to go into a corner, how to angle the bike when you come out and how hard to accelerate. Timing is everything for both.”

Other American riders in MotoGP include Colin Edwards, a two-time world superbike champion from Conroe, Texas, and Nicky Hayden of Owensboro, Ky. Edwards, a Suzuki teammate of Rossi, won his last race at Laguna Seca, in 2002 on a superbike. Hayden rides a Honda.

The Laguna Seca event -- practice today, qualifying Saturday and a 32-lap race Sunday -- has been sold out for a week. Besides the MotoGP, there will be AMA national championship races for superbike and supersport riders.

A special feature Saturday will be the Superstars of Super Karts, featuring former world road-racing champions Lawson and Kevin Schwantz in a 25-minute race in 140-mph racing karts. Rainey, who was partially paralyzed 12 years ago in a crash at Misano, Italy, was to have driven in a specially constructed kart, but withdrew because of a minor injury.

This will be the first world championship event in the U.S. since 1994 and the ninth held here. Mike Hailwood of England won two at Daytona Beach, Fla., in 1964 and 1965. In 1988 the USGP began a run at Laguna Seca, Lawson winning in 1988, Rainey in 1989, ’90 and ‘91, John Kocinski in 1993 and Luca Cadalora of Italy in 1994.

Southland Scene

Drag racing moves into the spotlight this weekend with the eighth annual Goodguys Nitro Nationals, three days of nostalgia racing at the Pomona Fairplex; the debut tonight of street-legal racing on the new eighth-mile strip at Perris Auto Speedway, and a day of quarter-mile street-legal racing at California Speedway on Saturday.

The Goodguys will have qualifying tonight and Saturday for 1972 and earlier top-fuel dragsters and funny cars. Among the entries will be Ron Capps, driver of a Dodge Stratus funny car on the NHRA Powerade circuit, taking the seat in Jeff Gaynor’s nostalgia style 1970 Plymouth Barracuda funny car.

Honored as hot rod heroes will be Tom McEwen, the racing Mongoose, and Dave McClelland, the voice of drag racing. Qualifying runs for 14 classes will be held today and Saturday with final eliminations at 10 a.m. Sunday.

Perris will offer side-by-side racing for anyone with a driver’s license, car or motorcycle registration and a helmet. Racing will begin at 5 p.m. Irwindale Speedway also has an eighth-mile track that is open every Thursday night all year long.

Passings

Jack Mendenhall, a land-speed devotee who created the Museum of Gasoline Pumps in Buellton, Calif., home of the Dry Lakes Hall of Fame, died Monday of complications from prostate cancer. He was 75. Services will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Oak Hill Cemetery in Solvang.

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This week

NASCAR NEXTEL CUP

USG Sheetrock 400

* When: Today, qualifying (Speed Channel, 1 p.m.); Sunday, race (Channel 4, noon).

* Where: Chicagoland Speedway (tri-oval, 1.5 miles, 18 degrees banking in turns); Joliet, Ill.

* Race distance: 400 miles, 267 laps.

* 2004 winner: Tony Stewart.

* Next race: New England 300, July 17, Loudon, N.H.

NASCAR BUSCH

USG Durock 300

* When: Today, qualifying (Speed Channel, 3 p.m.); Saturday, race (Channel 4, 11 a.m.).

* Where: Chicagoland Speedway.

* Race distance: 300 miles, 200 laps.

* 2004 winner: Justin Labonte.

* Next race: New England 200, July 16, Loudon, N.H.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS

Built Ford Tough 250

* When: Saturday, qualifying, 2 p.m., race (Speed Channel, 5 p.m.).

* Where: Kentucky Speedway (oval, 1.5 miles, 14 degrees banking in turns), Sparta.

* Race distance: 225 miles, 150 laps.

* 2004 winner: Bobby Hamilton.

* Next race: O’Reilly 200, July 23, Memphis, Tenn.

CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES

Grand Prix of Toronto

* When: Today, qualifying, 11:30 a.m.; Saturday, qualifying, 11 a.m.; Sunday, race (Channel 2, 10:30 a.m.).

* Where: Toronto street circuit (temporary road course, 1.755 miles, 13 turns).

* Race distance: 154.440 miles, 88 laps.

* 2004 winner: Sebastien Bourdais.

* Next race: Edmonton, July 17.

FORMULA ONE

British Grand Prix

* When: Saturday, qualifying (Speed Channel, 5 a.m.); Sunday, race (Speed Channel, 4:30 a.m.).

* Where: Silverstone Circuit (road course, 3.194 miles, 14 turns), England.

* Race distance: 191.64 miles, 60 laps.

* 2004 winner: Michael Schumacher.

* Next race: German Grand Prix, July 24, Hockenheim.

MOTOGP

U.S. Grand Prix

* What: Round 8 of 17, world motorcycle road racing championship series.

* When: Today, practice, 10 a.m.; Saturday, qualifying (Speed Channel, 2 p.m.); Sunday, race (Speed Channel, 2 p.m.).

* Where: Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (road course, 2.238 miles, 11 turns), Monterey, Calif.

* Race distance: 32 laps, 71.6 miles.

* Support races: Saturday, super karts, AMA superbike championship (28 laps); Sunday, AMA superstock (17 laps) and supersport (17 laps) championships.

* Next race: British Grand Prix, Donington Park, July 24.