Results AMA Superbike Championship, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin

2009-06-07 16:30
Corona Extra Honda's Neil Hodgson came through a difficult weekend of bad weather and bad luck to card a best result of sixth place at Road America in the dairy heartland of America.

Hodgson was assessed a ride-through penalty for jumping the start in Saturday's race, run on a wet track that partially dried before being hit with rain in the closing laps. The 2003 World Superbike Champion explained that he'd moved incrementally-less than three centimeters-though certainly not out of his starting box. But the rulebook states that a ride-through penalty will be assessed to any rider who anticipates the start, with that being defined "by the motorcycle moving forward."

"I've never jumped a start in 19 years, so when I came in I was livid," Hodgson said.

Fifth on the fifth lap, Hodgson's ride down the pit lane dropped him as far back as 18th . He recovered four spots to take over fourteenth, but a mix-up with his pit signals and a misreading of the flags, caused him to slow. What he'd thought was the checkered flag, waved from an elevated platform, was actually the white flag, signaling one more lap. Once he realized his mistake he sped up, but would lose two more spots.

Sunday's race was run in partially sunny, though cool weather. Entering the first turn Hodgson changed gears too quickly and was swept into the field, finishing the lap in tenth place.

Almost immediately he discovered a problem with the electronics that forced him to switch them off and race 'old school.' That got him into sixth place, but by then the soft rear tire he'd put to such good effect early in the race was showing signs of wear and his progress was halted. He was also bothered by problems with the left shoulder he injured in a motocross accident over two-and-a-half months ago.

Now he has three more weekends of recovery before heading north to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the AMA races in support of the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix on the U.S. July 4 Independence Day weekend.

Saturday's race was won by Mat Mladin (Suzuki) from Irishman Michael Laverty (Suzuki) and Ben Bostrom (Yamaha). On Sunday, Larry Pegram (Ducati) won his first race in over ten years with a thrilling victory over Mladin (Suzuki) and Aaron Yates (Suzuki).

Neil Hodgson 16th, 6th
Saturday, was an absolute disaster. I got a jump start even though I didn't jump the start. What happened was I did a burn-out, because it was wet. I then got into position. As (the race official) walked off I was stationary. I always put the brake on and put it into gear and that was my jump start. I mean, it's frustrating. You would hope that in these situations just a little bit of common sense would be used. When I came in, I didn't know what was going on. I thought something must be leaking off my bike when I saw the meatball flag. Then I couldn't see any smoke, but then there's water, because obviously it's wet. I didn't know if the fairing was hanging off somewhere.

Sunday, I got a really good jump the line and then short-shifted into second for some unbeknown reason and then was tentative into the first corner and then just got engulfed. Three riders came up the inside of me and that was the tale of the race. The bike's wheelying too much, so we changed the electronics and all that lot and we just killed it completely. So for the first two laps I'm trying to flick through the switch trying to get it right. Anyway, eventually I just pretty much rode with nothing and just thought 'I'm going to have to have full power.' I just rode as hard as I could from then on.

Team principal Tim Saunders
We're pleased that Neil (Hodgson) is starting to get back on form. We expect him to be fully back up to strength by Laguna Seca in four weeks time and it'll be good to be racing as part of the grand prix. We had a few unexpected issues on the machine today that probably kept him back a little bit. And yesterday it was a shame that he got called for the penalty. That ruined his race. But he finished in a positive frame of mine and he's happy that he's getting faster every event.

Sunday Superbike:
1. Larry Pegram (Ducati)
2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki)
3. Aaron Yates (Suzuki)
4. Geoff May (Suzuki)
5. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha)
6. Neil Hodgson (Honda)
7. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki)
8. Blake Young (Suzuki)
9. Jake Holden (Honda)
10. David Anthony (Suzuki)

Saturday Superbike:
1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki)
2. Michael Laverty (Suzuki)
3. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha)
4. Larry Pegram (Ducati)
5. Blake Young (Suzuki)
6. Aaron Yates (Suzuki)
7. Ryan Elleby (Suzuki)
8. David Anthony (Suzuki)
9. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki)
10. Mark Crozier (Suzuki)

Championship Standings:
1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 325
2. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) 215
3. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha) 187
4. Larry Pegram (Ducati) 180
5. Josh Hayes (Yamaha) 164
6. Geoff May (Suzuki) 161
7. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 152
8. Blake Young (Suzuki) 142
9. David Anthony (Suzuki) 120
10. Taylor Knapp (Suzuki) 97

Source: Honda Pro Image

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