Over the course of the 2002 season, Hodgson has consistently out-performed every other Dunlop rider. He has also been the only man capable of matching the blistering pace of title challengers Troy Bayliss and Colin Edwards. This weekend should see Hodgson – who is currently 60 points clear of his nearest rival for third place in the championship, Ben Bostrom – guarantee his final standing.

“I love Assen,” says Hodgson. “I love its fast, flowing corners and flat-out sections – it’s my kind of circuit. That said, I had a terrible time of it in qualifying last year which meant that I had to work really hard in the races to get a decent finish. If I can qualify as well as I have been doing so far this year, I should be able to challenge for race victories and leave the way clear for an all out assault at Imola.”

James Toseland’s performance in last weekend’s races at Oschersleben served to blow away the cobwebs as well as restoring his confidence. It also had the added bonus of putting ten more points between himself and Chris Walker in the battle for seventh place in the overall points table.

“I’m not really thinking about the championship at the moment,” explains Toseland. “Obviously, I’d like to stay seventh but what I really want is to get some good finishes. I couldn’t wait to get back to work after the summer break and Oschersleben was exactly what I needed to pump myself up for the last two rounds. When Haga came past me in the first race in Germany, I could easily have settled for seventh place and still maintained my championship position but I just had to go for it. Fast circuits like Assen really suit me and there’s always a large contingent of British fans over for the weekend – so I’m certainly not going to be holding back.”

Lap record: 2:03.914 C. Fogarty (Ducati) 1999
Superpole: 2:02.678 C. Edwards (Honda) 2000
Qualifying: 2:02.409 R. Xaus (Ducati) 2001