Neil Hodgson: My life story, part two (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Neil Hodgson: My life story, part two

6:10pm Tuesday 20th July 2010 in

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In the second part of an exclusive interview, Neil Hodgson tells of how he almost quit racing just before taking part in what is still regarded as the most exciting title race ever seen in the world of British Superbikes.

IT was in late 1998 that Neil Hodgson was out of work and on the verge of quitting motorcycling to become a builder. It would have been a big mistake.

Just two years later, the Burnley rider became British Superbike champion in what is still regarded as the most exciting title race ever seen on these shores.

Hodgson’s career had developed since he won the British 125cc Championship in 1992 at the age of 18.

He progressed to the World 125cc Championship before moving on to 500cc bikes.

By 1996 he was in the World Superbike Championship, first with Ducati and then with Kawasaki for the following two years. It did not go well.

“When I went to the World 125cc Championship I found it really difficult,” said Hodgson.

“I was riding the smaller bikes and I realised I was too big, so I started to go on to the consumer bikes and the 500cc bikes.

“That worked a lot better for me because I’m a taller rider.

“From there it just went from strength to strength, I had some really good seasons, I got a factory ride with Ducati and had some success.

“But I went to the World Superbike Championship and I just wasn’t experienced enough. I showed all this potential, got some really good rides and underperformed.

“A lot of people said that Hodgson couldn’t do it, he’s this, he’s that. That really hurt.

“In 1998 I rode for Kawasaki and lost my job at the end of that year.

“I was 24 and I said to my mum and dad, ‘That’s it, I’m done with racing, whatever it takes to be at that level, I can’t do it’.

“I wasn’t enjoying it any more. I wanted to retire.

“I had a bit of money in the bank, not much but I’d made a little bit, so I thought ‘I’ve done all right, I’ll do something else with my life.’ “I was planning to go and be a builder. I was a builder when I left school, I did that for three years.

“I actually really enjoyed that so I thought I’d just go back to that and maybe set up my own company in Burnley. I was happy enough to do that.

“It was probably my parents who changed my mind. I had a good manager at the time, Roger Burnett, who helped me a lot as well.

“We all sat down together, made some plans and said, ‘Let’s try to go back to Britain, give it one more go and see if it works’.

“If it didn’t, I would retire then. Obviously I’m glad I did that. How different my life would have been.”

So Hodgson entered the British Superbike Championship with GSE Racing in 1999, and the switch certainly did work.

In his second season he won the championship after an incredible title battle with Chris Walker, which gripped racing fans and led to sell-out crowds for the final races of the year.

“I almost re-learned my trade and found some new inner belief,” said Hodgson, now 36 and retired.

“After 1998 being rock bottom for me, 1999 was a year of building confidence and then 2000 was my year.

“The team said at that start of the year that if you win the British title we are going to the World Superbike Championship next year and you will be our rider - but you’ve got to win the championship. So I just thought, ‘Right, I’ve got to win it’.

“My destiny was there and I had to prove to everybody that I could do it.

“Probably the best race of my career was in 2000 at Oulton Park.

“I started from the back of the grid and just went berserk, one of the only times when I went properly berserk on a bike “It was probably dangerous, but I got to the front within seven or eight laps, which was pretty unheard of. Then I won the race easily.

“After the race it was all a blur, I couldn’t even remember it, but I watched it back on video and I was doing all these crazy passes on people. I wondered, ‘Was that me?’ “It was just an incredible year and the title came down to the last race.

“I was lucky to win the championship really because the guy who was leading, Chris Walker, broke down.

“But we’d had a titanic battle all year and it was one of those years when we both really deserved to win it.

“We’d shared the amount of wins and crashed into each other. It was really good television.”

And, having earned his place back on the world stage, his wild card entry into the two British rounds of the World Superbike Championship that year left him in no doubt that he was now ready to succeed at the top level.

“I did a one-off wild card race at Donington Park and managed to win the second race,” he recalls.

“That was the highlight of my career because it was my first time back in the world Superbike paddock, in front of all the people who had said, ‘He can’t do it, he’s rubbish’.

“To go back, on a year-old bike, and beat them all was a nice feeling.”

The permanent back to the World Championship came in 2001. Hodgson’s greatest success was just around the corner.

Click on the link below to read the previous chapter of Neil Hodgson's life story.