Hodgson's year improves

Britain’s Neil Hodgson had a positive race weekend at the Infineon Raceway on May 20-21, as Suzuki’s Ben Spies took a fifth and sixth consecutive win.

Spies led from the start of both 28 lap races to take the wins from Team Yoshimura Suzuki team-mate Mat Mladin, with Miguel Duhamel finishing third in both races for Honda. Aaron Yates was able to take fourth on Saturday, with Hodgson fifth, but the Sunday race saw the positions reversed.

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Hodgson was positive after the races, which have put him in fourth place overall in the championship. The first race saw the Brit, who had qualified third, battling for the final podium spot with Duhamel and Yates, only making a mistake and losing the tow at the end of the race.

“We all were riding really hard out there and it got a little wild at times,” said Hodgson. “I got a chip on my helmet from some flying rocks when one of the other riders ran off the track and into the dirt.”

The second race was Hodgson finish 9.137 seconds behind race winner Spies, less than half the gap he had on Saturday.

“It was good to see the leaders. We were much more competitive today. I had a good battle with Tommy Hayden and Aaron Yates. Tommy was braking very late into the corners and I managed to squeeze underneath him for the pass and went off to chase Miguel Duhamel. We were able to close on Miguel but ran out of laps.”

Hodgson will be testing later this week in Utah before the next AMA Superbike round at Road America on June 2-4, 2006.

AMA Infineon Race One results:

1. Ben Spies.

2. Mat Mladin.

3. Miguel Duhamel.

4. Aaron Yates.

5. Neil Hodgson.

6. Ben Bostrom.

7. Tommy Hayden.

8. Jake Zemke.

9. Steve Rapp.

10. Larry Pegram.

AMA Infineon Race Two results.

1. Ben Spies.

2. Mat Mladin.

3. Miguel Duhamel.

4. Neil Hodgson.

5. Aaron Yates.

6. Tommy Hayden.

7. Ben Bostrom.

8. Jake Zemke.

9. Steve Rapp.

10. Jake Holden.

AMA standings after six races:

1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 257.

2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 227.

3. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 198.

4. Neil Hodgson (Ducati) 183.

5. Aaron Yates (SUzuki) 179.

6. Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki) 173.

7. Ben Bostrom (Ducati) 168.

8. Jake Zemke (Honda) 156.

9. Jason Pridmore (Suzuki) 148.

10. Larry Pegram (Honda) 133.