Shorttrack roadracers

Neil Hodgson spent two years racing a Ducati in the American Superbike Championship but it took a cold wet winter’s day at Scunthorpe Speedway before he got his first ride in an American-style dirttrack race.

Hodgson rode to sixth place in the final of the Christmas Cracker Shorttrack last Saturday, as a guest rider with the factory CCM race team that he slung his leg over the for the first time on the morning of the event!

The 2003 WSB Champion showed his world-class ability as he quickly adapted to riding the single-cylinder bike despite conditions that went from sloppy wet in practice, to bone dry in qualifying races through to sloppy wet again in the finals.

After mixing it with some of the best riders in the series on the tiny 285 metre oval, he said: “I’ve really enjoyed myself. 

“It’s so different to motocross where it’s easy to make up time. In this sport you’ve got to be really patient and inch up on your rivals then work hard to pass.”

Hodgson wasn’t even deterred when he crashed on his first lap of practice.

He said: “I couldn’t believe it. I can ride all day on a ‘crosser and I rarely crash but when we first stat the track was really wet and there was absolutely no grip at all.

“I thought that riding a motocrosser might be the way forward but as the track dried out, the CCM worked really well.”