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AMA SBK at Infineon Raceway: Neil Hodgson shows grit and determination

In SBK

19 maggio 2009

AMA SBK at Infineon Raceway: Neil Hodgson shows grit and determination

Neil Hodgson survived a stern test of endurance in his return to racing with a top ten finish on the hottest race weekend of the season at Infineon Raceway in the wine country north of San Francisco.

The fifth round of the AMA Pro Road Race Championship marked the return of the 2003 World Champion from serious injuries suffered in a motocross training accident almost exactly two months earlier. The Englishman punctured a lung, broke ribs, and dislocated his left shoulder after unavoidably landing on a downed rider at a motocross track outside of Los Angeles. The injuries were severe enough that he had to flown by helicopter to the nearest hospital.

The ensuing two months have been a fight to fitness with the goal of making his return at Infineon Raceway, the most physical track on the AMA Pro Road Race calendar. With 11 turns and multiple elevation changes tucked into its 2.32-miles (3.736km), Infineon is a true test of fitness. Add to that temperatures approaching 40 degrees and the task facing Hodgson comes into clear focus.

On Friday afternoon, following qualifying, Hodgson said he'd set himself goals for the weekend. "My first goal was to be able to ride, which I did. I realized it after the first session. Second goal was getting Superpole, which I've done. (He qualified ninth). And my next two goals are to have just two really solid races, so just going to do all I can."

The third of the goals proved more difficult to achieve. On Saturday, Hodgson tucked the front end of his Corona Extra Honda CBR1000RR on a bump in the final hairpin right on the fifth of 22 laps.

"I trail braked onto the bump, which is pretty much onto the apex. I didn't get away with it," he said. Fortunately, he fell on his right side and did no further damage to his left shoulder."

Sunday's race was again held in brutally hot conditions and the miles of bicycling Hodgson had pedaled in pursuit of fitness paid off. He was in the battle for seventh place, but found early in the race that his fitness wouldn't allow him much more. As the race wore on, he dropped out of the three-way fight to secure ninth place.

Now he has three weeks to return to full strength before the following round at Road America, the fastest proper road course of the year with three sixth gear straightaways. Road America is the site of Hodgson's last Superbike win in the U.S.

Saturday's race was won by Josh Hayes (Yamaha) from Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) and Larry Pegram (Ducati). Mat Mladin (Suzuki) beat Ben Bostrom (Yamaha) on Sunday, with Hayden third.

Neil Hodgson DNF, 9th

"Sort of knackered, second-hand is how I feel. It was tough, tough race. I knew it was going to be around this track. Obviously, first race back after the injury. But I survived, I rode as hard as I could. I was good for about five laps and then everything sort of wore off, the pain-killers. And you never feel total clarity when you've taken quite a lot of pain-killers and anti-inflammatories and stuff. So I felt slightly not on my game, anyway. But, it were a long sort of last 12, 13 laps. What was happening is as I got weaker on the bike, I then didn't move my body position and just leaned the bike further over, because I didn't have the strength to put the bike into the corner. And then I were like riding off the edge of the tires and nearly crashing it and I thought, 'I'm going to crash it trying to battle for seventh place.' And having crashed in the first race, I didn't want to do it again. That was just the usual last corner crash. I trail braked onto the bump, which is pretty much onto the apex. I didn't get away with it. The bike, it's not good at turning on those sorts of corners anyway. You've pretty much got to trail brake to make it turn. I just asked too much really. I got caught out with how greasy the track was. I think everyone was ready for it today, but yesterday it caught everybody out.

So I survived and I sort of didn't come here with any expectations of great results or anything. I knew what I had. I knew it was going to be a problem. I survived the weekend and I'm confident that this is as bad as it'll ever be and it'll be a lot stronger for the next race at Elkhart Lake. I think the Honda's pretty fast. Obviously, you need speed around there. So I'm looking forward to it and my season starts again at Elkhart, I'd say. This was just a practice, a bit of a shakedown, really."

Team Principal Tim Saunders.

"You don't want to say you're happy with ninth place, but we're very pleased with how Neil rode this weekend. Obviously, he wanted to come back as soon as possible even though we knew this was probably the most difficult track to come back to from an injury. And the heat didn't help. But there was no keeping Neil away and the team did everything they could to make him comfortable on the motorcycle. Saturday's crash was unfortunate, but the leaders of both races also crashed in that corner, so he wasn't alone. Sunday he was in survival mode and he did as well as could be expected, all things considered. It was a struggle with the heat and we knew it would be. We knew he'd prepared as best as he could and, like I said, we think he came through with flying colors. Now he can rest the shoulder and work on his physio for the next three weeks before we get to Road America where I'm confident you'll see Neil return to form."

Sunday Superbike:
1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki)
2. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha)
3. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki)
4. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
5. Larry Pegram (Ducati)
6. Geoff May (Suzuki)
7. Taylor Knapp (Suzuki)
8. David Anthony (Suzuki)
9. Neil Hodgson (Honda)
10. Ryan Elleby (Suzuki)

Saturday Superbike
1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
2. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki)
3. Larry Pegram (Ducati)
4. Aaron Yates (Suzuki)
5. Mat Mladin (Suzuki)
6. Taylor Knapp (Suzuki)
7. David Anthony (Suzuki)
8. Chris Ulrich (Suzuki)
9. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha)
10. Cory Call (Suzuki)

Championship Standings:
1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 268
2. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) 189
3. Josh Hayes (Yamaha) 160
4. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha) 150
5. Geoff May (Suzuki) 143
6. Larry Pegram (Ducati) 131
7. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 116
8. Blake Young (Suzuki) 114
9. Taylor Knapp (Suzuki) 97
10. David Anthony (Suzuki) 96