HONDA RACING INFORMATION: HODGSON MOVES TO THIRD IN THE AMA SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP

Temperature: 30 degrees
Climate: Sunny, warm

American Honda's Neil Hodgson took over third place in the AMA
Superbike Championship point standings after a difficult weekend at
Infineon Raceway in the heart of the California wine country.
Teammate Miguel Duhamel sits eighth in points.

The start of the weekend was the best all year for Hodgson. The
former World Superbike Champion finished a close third in Friday's
first Superbike practice, held in 40 degree heat with track
temperatures approaching 66 degrees. But as the track cooled down,
Hodgson wasn't able to maintain his early form. He qualified seventh
on the grid, one spot in front of Duhamel.

For Saturday's race, Hodgson tried a different, shorter set-up that
soon found wasn't an improvement. As soon as the heat took its toll
on his tires, the front end began to chatter and the rear did, as
well. From then on it was a matter of survival en route to a sixth
place finish. The team went with a more conventional set-up on Sunday
and the rideability and results improved. Hodgson was battling with
Aaron Yates (Suzuki) until a mistake near the end of the race put him
out of reach. Hodgson finished fifth and moved up to third in the
championship.

Duhamel ran afoul of brakes problems on Saturday. Infineon Raceway
has a host of hard braking corners, many of which are downhill, and
the lack of stopping power meant a long day at the office for
Duhamel. He finished tenth, but improved to seventh on Sunday once
the brake problems were cured.

Now the team has a two week break until the inaugural AMA/World
Superbike Championship weekend at Miller Motorsports Park outside of
Salt Lake City, Utah.

Neil Hodgson 6th, 5th
"I had a package that I could race after the tires had gone off.
Yesterday (Saturday), we went with a really short bike and the tires
went off and it had no feeling. And it would break traction really
quick. It just felt horrible to be honest and it just chattered its
brains out. Today a little bit of chatter, but a much nicer package
that I could race. But unfortunately, I was losing on the last split
all my time through the little chicane and the last hairpin. For
whatever reason, I just can't get through them. It's a little bit of
it's me and a little bit is the engine, I think. It's just a little
bit boggy off the bottom. So I basically lost all my time then to
Aaron (Yates) and I had to spend the rest of the lap doing everything
I could to try to get back in touch. I'd get back in touch braking
into that little chicane and then I'd lose probably three-tenths,
four-tenths. Everything I got, you know what I mean. Two laps to go I
made a mistake just trying to make time up in those areas and he was
gone. Yesterday, the tires went off, like everybody's did. Just lost
the setting really. The bike started to chatter its brains out.
Wouldn't hold a line anywhere. Fortunately, that was sort of the tail
of the race. And it continued to go away, the tire. It were weird.
And the harder I tried, the more it chattered. The more it chattered,
the wider I went, the slower I went. That said, at the end I was on
my own anyway, pretty much."

Miguel Duhamel 10th, 7th
"Yesterday (Saturday), we had big problems with the brakes. They just
weren't working. That's a big problem. We have adjusters for the
brake levers and I had to click it about between 40, almost 50 times,
always the same way. The lever's hitting my hand. So I was really
cautious out there. I went straight in the chicane; I think I might
have glazed the brake pads over there a little bit and then I didn't
have any braking power and braking, the lever was all over the place,
mostly on my hand all the time. Anyway, I just tried to survive
yesterday. But today, that was good. We fixed the problem. It's a
little bit better. This is a good positive day for me and my team. I
think just one of the days we were the most competitive since the
beginning of the year. It's not too bad. I had to rely on my braking
to stay in there. Today the brakes were working OK. Made a few
mistakes and the guys pulled away. Lap times were pretty similar to
everybody, but I just needed to stay with those guys a little bit
better. We're looking at some data and we'll get a better bike for
the rest of the year and be able to be in there. There's no reason we
can't be in there right now."

American Honda Road Race Manager Ron Heben
"Well, we're kind of disappointed. Obviously, we felt that on Friday
we had a pretty decent motorcycle for both Neil and Miguel.
Unfortunately, Everyone else was able to step it up in the race and
we weren't able to. So it's going to be go back to our race shop in
Torrance (California) and look at the data and try to determine
what's holding back our guys from being up front. We don't believe
it's something very big, but some small things and we'll continue to
work to try to gain Neil's and Miguel's confidence. We're heading to
Miller in a couple of weeks. We've done well there and we're going to
look forward to go up there and show the World Superbike guys that
the American Honda team can hold it's own."

Saturday Superbike:
1. Ben Spies (Suzuki)
2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki)
3. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki)
4. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha)
5. Aaron Yates (Suzuki)
6. Neil Hodgson (Honda)
7. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha)
8. Matt Lynn (Honda)
9. Geoff May (Suzuki)
10. Miguel Duhamel (Honda)

Sunday Superbike:
1. Ben Spies (Suzuki)
2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki)
3. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki)
4. Aaron Yates (Suzuki)
5. Neil Hodgson (Honda)
6. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha)
7. Miguel Duhamel (Honda)
8. Geoff May (Suzuki)
9. Chris Peris (Suzuki)
10. Ryan Elleby (Suzuki)

Championship Standings:
1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 242
2. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 233
3. Neil Hodgson (Honda) 181
4. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha) 175
5. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki) 170
6. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha) 158
7. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) 143
8. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 136
9. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 133
10. Matt Lynn (Honda) 131