Frustrating weekend for Hodgson at the demanding Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

2009-07-19 22:46
Corona Extra Honda's Neil Hodgson had a frustrating weekend on the physically challenging Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The former World Superbike champion realized from the first lap of practice that his surgically repaired right shoulder was not up to the demands of the track and he rode valiantly to improve to ninth place on Sunday after finishing 11th on Saturday.

Hodgson is a veteran of American Superbike racing and knows the tracks well. And he tested here a month ago. But since riding in the support race of the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, Hodgson's shoulder, which he injured in a freak motocross accident in March, has made little progress and he plans to return to his American base in California shortly for more treatment.

Though the possibility of a second operation exists, he's ruled it out for the time being as it would end his season with three races remaining. Two of the three tracks are new to the AMA calendar, though the Corona Extra Honda team will take part in a test at one of the tracks on Tuesday and Wednesday. Neither appears to be as physical as Mid-Ohio, which has a number of elevations and directional changes, along with hard downhill braking.

Both Saturday's and Sunday's races were lonely rides. Hodgson slotted into 11th place on the opening lap of Saturday's race and that's where he finished. On Sunday it was a more encouraging story. He again started 11th , but this time worked his way up to ninth on the sixth of 21 laps.

Hodgson and the team will now travel to New Jersey Motorsports Park an all-teams test on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a trip back to California. Then comes a one weekend break, after which the series resumes at Heartland Park in Topeka, Kansas, a facility which hasn't hosted an AMA race since 1991.

Both of this weekend's races were won by Josh Hayes (Yamaha). He beat Suzuki riders Aaron Yates and Mat Mladin on Saturday. Teammate Ben Bostrom and Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) filled out Sunday's podium.

Neil Hodgson: Saturday, 11th, Sunday 9th .

"I struggled all weekend with my shoulder. I've just got no strength in it. And at a track like Mid-Ohio, where there are all these changes of direction and a couple of fast changes of direction, I was running with one arm. I feel sorry for my team, I feel sorry for fans, I feel sorry for Honda. I rode as hard as I could under the circumstances. It was a very frustrating, long annoying weekend. All weekend long we were a second a lap off the pace, really. We improved the bike a little bit (Sunday). It would hold the line a little better and change directions a little bit easier. We could make it even easier to change direction, but then it would be almost unrideable in other places. It was almost a complete compromise. We'd made a massive step at Laguna with my shoulder, but I didn't realize that Laguna is nothing like here. Tracks with just straights and corners and straights and corners are alright. The all-action style of this track showed up this weekend in my shoulder. I couldn't ride when we tested here a month ago, because I had no power. There was quite a bit of time between then. I thought I'd be OK and that the shoulder would be a lot stronger, but it's not. I had limited mobility then and it's exactly the same, to be honest. I think that's as much as I'm going to get without having another operation on it, unfortunately. After the test I'm going back to have an MRI scan and a nerve test and go from there. Obviously we'll see the season through, so any opportunity will be the end of the season. So we'll look to get something done at end of season."

Team principal Tim Saunders:
"None of us realized how difficult this weekend would be for Neil. Obviously this injury takes longer to heal than we expected and we just have to be patient. While Neil's healing, we continue to make steps with the bike, which is why Neil was able to improve on Sunday. The next two races are anyone's guess. No one has seen New Jersey and no one's been to Topeka for 18 years. We have to hope they're not too physical, but if they are, we'll do our best to adjust the bike to make it comfortable."

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

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

Championship Standings:
1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 390
2. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) 264
3. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha) 246
4. Josh Hayes (Yamaha) 245
5. Larry Pegram (Ducati) 223
6. Blake Young (Suzuki) 201
7. Geoff May (Suzuki) 199
8. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 198
9. Taylor Knapp (Buell) 127
10. David Anthony (Suzuki) 120
13. Neil Hodgson (Honda) 94

Source: Honda Pro Image

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