It seems no one can stop Neil Hodgson. He raced to another double in the World Superbike Championships at Sugo on Sunday. He has won every race of 2003 so far.
It seems no one can stop Neil Hodgson. He raced to another double in the World Superbike Championships at Sugo on Sunday. He has won every race of 2003 so far.
Frenchman Regis Laconi grabbed pole position, but Hodgson took charge of the race on lap five. Hodgson’s start from the outside of row two helped him avoid the first corner pile-up that took out Troy Corser (Foggy Petronas), Chris Walker (HM Plant Ducati) and Pierfrancesco Chili (PSG-1 Ducati).
Walker broke a bone in his foot after breaking a toe in qualifying on Saturday. “My feet are in agony after the crashes I’ve had this weekend,” he said.
“If I hadn’t got such a good start, I might have been involved in the crash,” said Hodgson. “So I was really pleased with my start. Because of the limited practice time in the dry, I’d only tried my race tyres once so I took things easy on the first lap and then in the middle I eased off a bit as well. We are on a brand-new bike and when you come to a new circuit, you’ve got no baseline settings so we had to work that bit harder than usual.”
Hodgson won the first race in 37 minutes and 57.829 seconds. Laconi finished second in 38:04.996 with James Toseland of Britain third in 38:12.682. Ruben Xaus took fourth place.
In the second race, Gregorio Lavilla, on a Suzuki, made Hodgson work hard for the top place. Lavilla took the lead on the second lap and held off Hodgson for three laps. He then kept Hodgson under pressure for the rest of the race hoping the Brit would make a mistake, but he did not.
Hodgson crossed the line first in the second race in 37:56.499. Lavilla was second in 37:57.317, with Chili third in 37:57.969 and Xaus in fourth place.
“To lead and then be right with Hodgson for the whole race is a good feeling. Hodgson’s Ducati has been developed over many years, but our Suzuki is brand new and we only received it in January, so I think we are doing very well. Our top speed is still not as fast as we’d like and I’m losing grip exiting the corners, but we’re working hard at making the bike as good as possible,” said Lavilla.
Hodgson said he enjoyed his battle with Lavilla. “Gregorio gave me a hard time today, he kept the pressure on and his Suzuki and my Ducati were pretty evenly matched. Five laps to go I picked up the pace deliberately and that was enough. The old Neil Hodgson wouldn’t have done that but I’m starting to use my head a bit now and administer the races better,” he said.
