With a week to go to the penultimate round of the 2011 British Superbikes Championship, Samsung Crescent Racing’s John Hopkins has undergone more surgery as he recovers from hand injuries sustained at the MotoGP round in the Czech Republic in August.

Despite sensationally winning both races at Donington Park a week ago, where he took over the BSB Championship lead, Hopkins knew his hand still wasn’t sufficiently healed and so rushed back to California to consult further with his surgeons.

X-Rays revealed areas still fractured with his middle finger not locating in the knuckle so the finger has now been micro-plated and screwed.

“There was a lot of pain in my fingers at Donington Park and I knew it wasn’t right and in fact I was very worried I’d aggravated the injury,” Hopper explained. “So I rushed back to see my surgeon on the Monday.

“The X-Rays showed that my middle finger wasn’t locating properly in the second knuckle. Fortunately the bone area that had previously been crushed was now nicely healed and so my surgeon was able to put in screws and plates so as to stabilize the finger.

“I could feel straight away that the finger was much stronger and it’s improved every day since. I’m now very confident that I’ll be able to ride at near-enough 100 percent at Silverstone next weekend.”

Hopkins currently leads the BSB series with just two rounds remaining in 2011.