"I never dreamed I’d be able to win an AMA championship this early in my career," Hopkins said. "I knew what I had to do today. I was getting signals from my crew, but I just didn’t want to push it at all with the title on the line. Riding with guys like Jimmy Moore, Damon Buckmaster and my teammate Grant Lopez in this series has really helped me a lot. I learned something from these guys almost every week, and it makes me feel proud to win against such high-quality competition."

The 750 SuperSport championship was the culmination of an outstanding season for Hopkins. He started the year with an impressive and unexpected win at Daytona International Speedway and followed that up with victories at Road Atlanta and Laguna Seca Raceway. All told, Hopkins earned podium finished in six of the nine series races in 2000.

Making Hopkins’ run to the title even more impressive was the fact that this was the youngster’s first full season of racing in the AMA professional ranks. Hopkins made his AMA Pro Racing debut in the 750 SuperSport final at Loudon, N.H., in 1999 and finished a very respectable fifth. He went on to post a couple of top-10 finishes in the Pro Honda Oils 600 SuperSport Series last year.

Hopkins will defend his title in 2001, again riding for the Valvoline EMGO Suzuki team again.