Neil Hodgson bids to regain title a decade on; Hill signs for Suzuki
MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship in association with Pirelli
Neil Hodgson will challenge for the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship in association with Pirelli next year and among his rivals will be Tommy Hill who has signed to ride for the Worx Crescent Suzuki team.
Riding for the Motorpoint Yamaha team, Hodgson is bidding to regain the domestic title that he won in one of the most exciting and dramatic final rounds back in the 2000 season against Chris Walker, a success that prompted his move into the World Super Bike series, winning the WSB title three years later.
Image: Mark Manning
Hodgson subsequently raced in the American Superbike series for five years, but in March this year he crashed his motocross bike suffering a collapsed lung and displocated shoulder causing him to miss most of the season. Neil returned to check out the British scene at the Croft round and begun discussions with the Yamaha team owned by a former champion Rob McElnea.
“I’m back racing, and I am racing to win the title,” explained Hodgson. “I have a lot of passion in me to get the job done and want to be successful.”
Hill is equally determined to make his mark having secured the Worx Crescent Suzuki ride alongside their Japanese star Yukio Kagayama.
The Epsom rider, who signed off the season with podium finishes at Oulton Park for Hydrex Honda, had impressed the Suzuki team with strong rides in the two mid-term rounds in which he deputised for their injured rider Sylvain Guintoli.
"I’m very happy to be in the Worx Crescent Suzuki team,” said Hill. “I’ve worked with them this year, and so for me going into winter testing with a team that I’ve already worked with is fantastic. They have a cracking bike, to have that and a team that I want to work with is so important – that’s always good for a rider's confidence.”
The 2010 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship in association with Pirelli begins at Brands Hatch over the Easter weekend, 3-4-5 April.
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