British Superbike Championship - Round 9 - Cadwell

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 
soon closed down early leader Chris Walker, before passing him at Park Corner on lap eight and pulling a half-a-second gap. Hodgson retained this advantage for the remainder of the race, skillfully negotiating back markers and taking his fifth victory of the domestic series to stretch his championship lead:

"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:

"I made an uncharacteristically good start and was able to sit with the leading pack and watch all the action going on in front of me, but when James went down, it cost me a few seconds and once the tow was broken, it was hard to close up. Saturday's accident took its toll during the second half of the race and I found it increasingly difficult to move around on the INS Ducati, but I was pleased to take fourth place."

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 
a brave move, and we now leave Cadwell Park in the same position that we arrived here. It's good to not have lost any points advantage though, so let the battle continue at Mallory Park in three week's time
!"

Race one 
1) N. Hodgson (INS Ducati) - 24:32.889
2) C. Walker (Suzuki) + 0.610
3) J. Reynolds (Ducati) + 1.554
4) N. Mackenzie (INS Ducati) + 10.296
5) J. Crawford (Suzuki) + 16.773
6) S. Emmett (Honda) + 35.328
7) S. Byrne (Honda) + 38.254
8) P.Young (Yamaha) + 39.411 
9) D.Jefferies (Yamaha) + 39.660
10) S. Plater (Kawasaki) + 45.274 

Race Two
1) C. Walker (Suzuki) - 24:49.436
2) N. Hodgson (INS Ducati) + 0.143
3) J. Haydon (Ducati) + 0.411
4) J. Reynolds (Ducati) + 2.793
5) S. Plater (Kawasaki) + 6.282
6) S. Emmett (Honda) + 37.670
7) M. Rutter (Yamaha) + 40.024
8) P. Young (Yamaha) + 45.794
9) S. Byrne (Honda) + 52.529
10) D. Jefferies (Yamaha) + 1:01.649

Points
1) N. Hodgson - 329
2) C. Walker - 328
3) J. Reynolds - 301
4) J. Haydon - 247
5) S. Hislop - 168
6) N. Mackenzie - 140
7) J. Crawford - 122
8) S. Plater - 120
9) P. Young - 103
10) J. Toseland - 101

Manufacturers Championship
1) Ducati - 408
2) Suzuki - 341
3) Yamaha - 223
4) Honda - 150
5) Kawasaki - 145