British Superbike Championship - Round 9 - Cadwell
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GSE Racing's Neil Hodgson took a win and a second place at Cadwell Park
circuit today to retain his British Championship lead after 18 of 24 rounds.
It was Hodgson's fifth win in the domestic series and puts him in a position
of strength for the final six races (3 rounds) of the season.
Having qualified on pole, Hodgson made a good
start in race one, slotting into second. Hodgson "That was a tough race," said Hodgson, "Chris Walker pushed me really hard out there. I noticed a few spots of rain on my visor during the race, which put me off a bit because I didn't know how hard to risk pushing the INS Ducati, but I knew that if I backed off, Chris would try to pass, so I got my head down and really went for it. It's great to get the win and I'll be trying for another in race two." Niall Mackenzie had been running comfortably with the leaders in fifth, but
was forced to take evasive action when James Haydon crashed his Ducati in front of him. Although he moved up a place, this cost the Scot valuable
time and he was unable to catch the leading trio - eventually finishing in fourth
and adding another 13 valuable points to his championship tally: Race 2 - The battle at the front was similar to race one, with Walker leading for the first nine laps before a mistake at the Old Hairpin handed the advantage to Hodgson, who got the best drive out of Barn Corner and took the lead on the start/finish straight. Hodgson defended this lead throughout the remainder of the race until the final lap, when he came across back markers - including his team mate - through the woodland section of the track, where Walker forced his way through a gap and stole the victory by just 0.143 secs. "That was a great race, even though I didn't get the win in the
end," said Hodgson. "I came across three back markers, including Niall, on the final
lap, which made things difficult because I didn't think there was anywhere to
pass. I went to dive up the inside of Niall, but Chris was on the inside of
me on the wet line, so I had nowhere to go. Fair play to him, because it was Race one |