This time of the year seems to be all about replacing injured riders. It is now the turn of John Hopkins to be replaced for the Donington round of the World Superbike Championship, after having sustained a fracture of the foot and muscle tear injuries while crashing out at Monza. His replacement will be Peter Hickman who races for the MSS Colchester Kawasaki team (which is supported by the manufacturer) in the British Superbike Championship. Again this is a temporary replacement for the coming race at Donington Park before Hopkins resumes duties at the Miller Park round in the USA. Hopkins last rode in MotoGP on a Kawasaki before the manufacturer pulled out and left him very high and very dry. Since then his career as a racer has seen a downward spiral until last year when he did well with the Crescent Suzuki team in the British Superbike Championship. This led to his promotion to the World Superbikes squad after Suzuki officially withdrew from the sport but allowed Crescent Suzuki to race with technical backing from Yoshimura. However he was injured before the inaugural round at Australia and had to be replaced by Josh Brooks.