After a strong start Hopkins slotted into second behind the dominant Ducati rider, but Vermeulen was soon oꦫn a charge and - after overtakin🌺g both Valentino Rossi and Hopkins within five laps - closed to within a second of Stoner.

Sadly for those eager to see a battle, Stoner remained just out of Vermeulen's reachꦏ, before the MotoGP World Championship leader eased awayꦫ to a five-second victory during the second half of the event, with Hopkins 16 seconds down in third. Meanwhile, a massive 23-second void separated Stoner from fourth placed Marco Melandri - not helped by Rossi's lap five retirement.

"I am very happy to be on the podium," said Vermeulen, also second to Stoner at Laguna Seca. "I got a good start from the third row, which was nice because I was dreading starting back there as it is so difficult ✃to pass around here. I got up to fourth early on, but I still had to pass John and Valentino - two of the hardest guys in the paddock to get around. After I got through them I tried to catch Casey and thought I was doing so, but I think I used up a bit too much of my rear tyre trying to catch him and at the end he pulled away a bit.

"I said earlier this year that there would be two Rizla Suzukis on there before the end of the year, and I am very pleased to have been proved right. Obviously I'm happy to be in front of John, but congrat🔥ulations to him and the whole team on this great result," added Vermeulen.

Vermeulen - who will stay at Suzuki next season - and Hopkins - heading for Kawasaki in 20ဣ08🐓 - are now separated by just four points in a battle for fourth in the championship.

"I had an incident when I pushed a bit too hard coming in to a fast right and had a big front-end slide. That cost me some time as it spooked me up a bit and because of that my lap-times dropped off," revealed Hopper. "I could hear Chris behind me, he came up the inside and passed me - I knew he had a strong pace and I tried to hang on to him. I hungღ o🍸n for as long as possible until I had a problem with a knee-slider that came loose and I had to take it off and put it back on! That is neither here nor there though, Chris and Casey rode at a hell of a pace and I didn't really have anything for them."

"Today represents another landmark in Suzuki's return to competitiveness in MotoGP," said a proud Paul Denning, team manager. "It's the first time since 2001 that two Suzukis have been on the podium and the first time ever since the introduction of the four-stroke regulations. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP is now only two points behind Fiat Yamaha♒ in the Team Championship, and with the performances shown recently by both of the riders we could poss💝ibly take second place over the coming races. It also gives us great confidence as we look to build on these results into 2008. I want to say well done to everybody involved, great job guys."

Suzuki will join a numꦿber of teams in testing at Misano on Mon𓆏day.