After Assen disrupted John Hopkins' career for the second year in succession, the Stiggy Racing team was left looking for a replacement for the man who had only just joined the team. Hopkins' injury - a dislocated hip with a fractured femur - leaves the American out of racing for at least two, and maybe three rounds.
First of these is magnificent Monza, a jewel of a track set in a huge park on the outskirts of Milan. At that legendary track, another American, Jake Zemke, will ride Hopkins' CBR1000RR. Zemke is the reigning AMA Formula Xtreme champion, a class that has now been replaced by the incomprehensible Daytona Sportbike class in the AMA Pro Racing Championship, and is currently riding for Erion Honda's Daytona Sportbike entry. Zemke previously rode a Honda CBR1000RR for American Honda in the AMA Superbike series alongside Miguel Duhamel.
This will be Zemke's second attempt at Monza. Previously, Zemke was scheduled to substitute for Roberto Rolfo aboard the Althea Honda here in 2008, but last-minute paperwork problems with the AMA prevented Zemke from taking part. This weekend, Zemke will be replacing Hopkins - who replaced Rolfo, though over results, not injury - at the Italian track. Hopkins will also be out at Kyalami in two weeks' time, but that event clashes with the next AMA round at Infineon Raceway, or Sears Point as it was known, ruling Zemke out there. Both Hopkins and Zemke share a manager, a contributing factor to Zemke's taking the ride, but like several American racers, Zemke has indicated an interest in joining the World Superbike paddock permanently.
The problem for Zemke, as for all Americans, will be money: In the World Superbike paddock, it is customary to pay for your ride by bringing in sponsorship, unless you are one of a handful of the very top riders who teams and factories are keen to pay. Unless Zemke can completely blow away the opposition, he is unlikely to be made a similar offer, and with a host of Italian riders and Italian teams turning up at Monza, that is a very tall order indeed.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider supporting MotoMatters.com. You can help by either taking out a subscription, supporting us on Patreon, by making a donation, or contributing via our GoFundMe page. You can find out more about subscribing to MotoMatters.com here.
Comments
The subject of personal sponsorship...
Is best left to his manager. Jake is a great guy with plenty of charisma and personality to spare. He wont have a problem bring in some personals if need be. Add in his racing talent and you have a pretty solid rider. His only reason for not having many personal sponsors is because we just dont have them here in the states on the same level that world level racing has picked them up. I would expect Zemke to pick up the usual American sponor in Monster. Possibly Rockstar as well. After all, every rider these days needs an energy drink sponsor right?