Crescent Suzuki World Superbike racer John Hopkins has had a portion of his damaged right ring finger amputated. At approximately 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time Friday Hopkins posted the following to his Twitter account: “Well after 6 surgeries & Thousands of $’s spent on Rehab etc its a shame it had to come to this…” Accompanying the text was a photo (right) showing his right hand and the bandaged remnant of his ring finger. “Good news is that it already feels better than it has for months & I’ll be ready to race in Phillip Island for Rnd. 1 ! No motivation lost !” Hopkins wrote in a second “tweet” immediately after his first. Hopkins’ reference to Phillip Island is the official FIM Superbike World Championship pre-season test and opening round to be held at the Australian track in late-February. Hopkins badly broke his right ring finger when he crashed during practice for the Czech Republic Grand Prix, which he was doing as a wild card for the Rizla Suzuki team. The injury forced Hopkins to miss a round of the British Superbike Championship, but it had little effect on his title chances and he narrowly missed winning the crown for Samsung Crescent Suzuki. The former AMA Pro 750cc Supersport and Formula Xtreme Champion had several more surgeries on the finger and complications, including a serious infection, but it all came to an end today. Hopkins did not respond to Roadracingworld.com’s attempts to contact him via his mobile phone before post time.