Year after year, it seems, we hope and pray that some rider on some other team will step up and challenge Yoshimura Suzuki in AMA Superbike racing. It’s not that we have anything against Suzuki or Yoshimura, it’s that the plot line never seems to change, and it can get somewhat boring. Five straight Superbike championships and eight out of the last nine, spell more than dominance, they spell humiliation for competitors.
In the last few years, of course, it has become a bit more interesting because two Yoshimura Suzuki riders, Mat Mladin and Ben Spies, seem to battle every week at the front, and last year’s championship came down to the final race (with Spies winning his second title in a row).
This year, we wonder again if a rider can emerge on a non-Suzuki to consistently challenge for race wins. Based on what we’ve seen so far, Neil Hodgson just might do it on the all-new Honda CBR1000RR. As the new machine develops a bit more each race, Hodgson gets closer to the front. He had a legitimate shot at a couple of podiums last weekend in Fontana, but went home with a pair of fourth place finishes.
Hodgson is no stranger to winning against tough competition. A former WSB champion, Hodgson even spent time riding in the MotoGP series. He has raced in the U.S. before, and knows the tracks. He and teammate Miguel Duhamel have brought the CBR1000RR a long way since they first started testing a couple of months ago.
Of course, other riders, including Yamaha’s Jason DiSalvo, have shown some good speed this year, but the steady development of the all-new Honda coupled with Hodgson’s undeniable talent create the greatest probability of a consistent challenge to the dominant Suzuki’s.
