Kawasaki has confirmed that John Hopkins will not be fit enough to compete in the next two MotoGP rounds, but have added that Marco Melandri will not be replacing him.

Hopkins is to go under the knife for the leg injuries he sustained in his high-speed crash at the Assen TT, surgery that will therefore r꧒ule him out of the coming rounds at the Sachsenring and his home event at Lagun🦩a Seca.

"He needs to have an operation, according to Dr Ting, becaus𓆉e the tibia is still a little bit dislocated and he would like to correct this," Kawasaki Racing competition manager Michael Ba🙈rtholemy told the official MotoGP website.

"Also he would like to perform some surgery on the knee because there was a big compression on that area. Dr Ting has said that for now John will n𝕴ot be able to ride at Laguna Seca."

Attention has now turned to who will repl💝ace Hopkins at the American round after Kawasaki confirmed they will not be able to find a rider in time for next wee⛄k's German Grand Prix.

Currently, Kawasaki is expected to lean towards hiring an AMA rider for the ꧑weekend, with Bartholemy revealing that Chaz Davies, Roger Lee Hayden and Jamie Hacking top his list of candidates.

"Basically for Germany we would like to keep the bike free because it will be difficult to find anybody. But our idea for Laguna would be to put one of our American-based 𒈔riders on the bike, maybe Jamie Hacking, Roge🔥r Lee Hayden or Chaz Davies."

What is certain though is that Melandri won't be making the surprise switch from Ducati, where he has endured🃏 a tough season thus far. Although Bartholemy admitted that the rumours of Kawasaki approaching Melandri are true,💜 he adds that it was dependant on him finding a solution with his current employers which he wasn't able to do.

"I said to him [Melandri] after I kne🃏w how bad John's injuries were, and told him that we have a bike free for the next two events, but that he would have to find a solution with Ducati, to get out of his contract. This is not a Kawasaki matter. But now they have told me that he will𓃲 continue with Ducati for the next two races for sure."

However, unless there is a radical upturn in performance over the next two rounds, Melandri is still expected to separate from Ducati after Laguna Seca, leaving the former MotoGP Wor🌄ld Championship runner-up free to pursu🌺e a Kawasaki seat from Brno onwards.

Melandri's former Gresin🔯i Honda team-mate Sete Gibernau is expected to replace Marco should t🐼he Italian leave.