Neil Hodgson on the road to recovery

Neil Hodgson was released from Loma Linda University Medical Center on Sunday, March 22, one week after being admitted with a collapsed lung, five broken ribs and a dislocated left shoulder, following a motocross accident that he called both the worst and scariest crash of his career.

Now he’ll visit a specialist on Wednesday, March 25, to find out whether the shoulder injury will prevent him from racing the Corona Honda in the third round of the AMA Pro American Superbike double-header at Road Atlanta, Georgia.

The crash happened after he’d finished training for the day on the pro track at Raceway 395 in Adelanto, California.

Hodgson was riding to the pits to park his Honda CRF450R for the day when a friend asked if he’d follow him on the vet track to study his technique.

Hodgson was riding at a comfortable pace about two or three yards back when his friend “landed really short all crossed up and his bike turned in front of me. I almost cleared him, but I clipped the top half of his body. It put me over the front of his handlebars.

I was already 20 feet up in air, then thrown off the handlebars and thrown at 35 mph, off a 50-foot tabletop. It was definitely the worst crash of my life.”

Hodgson will visit a specialist to determine whether he’ll need further treatment on the injured shoulder.

Hodgson said: “It’s still very swollen and a bit messed up in there. We’re going to find out what the best decision is to make.”

If he skips Road Atlanta, he has another four weeks to recover before the following round at Barber Motorsports Park the first week in May, but Hodgson said, “I don’t want to miss it (Road Atlanta). We’ll know more on Wednesday once we see the specialist.”

Even if he is cleared by the doctor, Hodgson would have to drive to Braselton, Georgia after been banned from flying for either four or six weeks.