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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128232
extent, b ut not badly enough to prevent the res ult being called in Hodgson 's favor after th e first 16 laps in the Dutch countrys ide. The day started poorly, with dense fog and ne ws of two horrific traffic accidents on t he way to the track, shroudi ng proceed ings . The fog delayed every warm-u p , bu t Wo rld Su p erb i k e racin g got und er w ay at noo n as plann ed. Both Ho dg son , the holeshot man, and Xau s were raci n g li ke r a w no v ice s o n occasio n, fast nov ices ob v iously , bu t each made er rors at cruci al times in th e lea d. Even Dav id e T a rdozz i co u l d not watc h as hi s charges barreled along the mai n -... stra ig ht and p lay ed c hic k en into the . first chicane. Wit h the Wo rld Cham pio ns hip at • stake, p r ud enc e and the long view cou ld have been expected du ri ng the fi rst lfi- Iap pe r. Instead the crowd was trea ted to a full -on di sp lay of aggres· sion an d o n ly eph emeral rac ec raft , especially from new cham p ion Hodg son and h is teammate Xaus . Feet off the pegs from Xaus , run on s under brak ing fr om Hodgson, it was desper at e and highly tens e and far f ro m b eaut ifu l fl ow ing act ion in race one . "I strugg le d du ring qualif in g but y knew the race was goi ng to be different: Xau s sai d. "It w as a strang e race , and I don 't feel that good about winning it at th e moment. I thi nk we wer e both very tense , and I did not want any p rob lem or a crash, as we are teamma tes. " _ Xaus ranout the win ner by .60 9 of a • second after a tou gh last lap with Hodg_son, who lapped the circuit on the slow down lap wearing a. Tyshirt proclaiming "Who's The Daddy?" in honor of his five-day old daughter, Holly Jean. And his own new statu s, of course, He even wor e an old punk T -shirt at the post-ra ce con ference, with the log o "999 " p r inted as a hat - ch eck tick et o n th e fro nt, a tri but e to his cham p io ns hi p -wi n ni ng bi ke al th o ug h a some wh at incong r uo us h om ag e t o th e t h ree -c ho r d b and whose log o it origi nally was . Ho d g so n is th e first Brit on si nce Fogart y in 1999 to win World Superbi k e o utright and on ly the sec ond Briton eve r to do it. "T he trophy is a lot heavier than it looks !" Hodgson said afte r race one. "Whe n you fee l as tense as I did on thos e last five laps, it's really hard to be abl e to concentrate on winning the race. I felt like a nov ice ou t there , and after being so relaxed all we eke nd, when I got in the race, I was a mess. But I'v e don e it now, and I' m looking forward to th e second race. "I've never suffered from con ce n tration so bad, but at a certa in poi nt I was thi nki ng 'This is it, th is is it - I' m World Ch am p ion .' I' ve bee n focused all wee ke nd, but beca use of th e battle wit h Ru ben [XausJ, I j us t tensed up and was un ab le to relax and go fo r the race wi n. It m eans so m uch to me to wi n th is c ha mpionship . I've been ra cing si nce 1990; I've had an up • and -down career, but now I've proved Who's your da ddy , and a few peop le wrong by winning the cr ashed out of race one) in th ird place, who's the daddy? title , and I tru ly feel I can move on "The race was a p retty difficul t race Hod g son is the da ddy from here. I' d just like to dedicat e the because there was so muc h tension and a new da ddy. He title to Kath ry n and our baby girl , as between Neil [Hodgson] and myself: was not only celebrating well a s my ch ief engin eer and his first World Xaus said . " I didn 't want to make any Champion ship rig h t -hand man Ern e sto mistakes, bu t I di d, t hroughout t he but also the birth Marinell i, who co uld n't mak e race . Som eti m es' was faster t ha n of hi s new fi veit here d u e to a rece n t him, and he was fa ste r than m e; we day-o ld baby ac cident. " ha d to ta ke the battle right down to Holly-.lean. F o r D u ca t i , already the last lap , wh en I thi nk Neil relaxed manufacturer s' cha mpia bit beca use he k new he was goi ng ons (of co urse) . it w as its to be Wor ld Cham pion." 10th title in conjunction with A lth ough he coul dn't sti ck with th e a desm o -powered ri der. two Ducatis, Lav ill a wa s pl eased wit h "Th is is anoth er important th e effort that put him on the podium cha p te r i n th e h i s t or y of in race two . D ucat i , a nd th e champi '" wa s very co nfi dent in the openonship -wi nning 999 will take ing laps and enjoying the race, but on i t s pr i d e of pla ce in th e lap 10 or 11 som eth i ng happened Ducati m u seum !" Fed eri co with the tire , an d I mi ssed my lines Mi noli said . " We are ver y th rou gh the co rners, and I ca nnot stay proud of the 999's pe rforw ith Ruben and Neil ." Lav il l a sai d . ma nce in its first year of " Because ' did no t fini sh the fi rst race , racing." I lo st out on t rack ex perie nce, but I In third place in race wan ted to fi nish on the podiu m in race o ne Pi er -F r an c e sc o two, wh ich' did , so I am happy." Ch il i co uld no t repliHod gson ch an ged the them e of th e cate his Supe rpo le win, cel ebratio n fo r tha t one, we aring an but he rode wi th conEnglish national soccer jersey on the v iction throughout t o secure slo w- do w n this time . His r eli e f at the podium fr om HM Plant scoring ano ther win , his 12th of the Ducati's James Tos eland right ye ar, was palpabl e, eve n if Xaus was at th e very end of proceedings . nestling co m fortably inside h is slip" I am ve r y h app y t o be o n stream on the run ove r the line. th e podium t oday , but unfortu nat e l y I di d n ot have a cha nce to wi n: Chili said . "Ja mes T os el and made a mistake o n t h e b a c k s traight; I was able to retake third, and fo r m e t he podium i s wonderfu l. Now I wi ll see what changes I can make for the second race, and ~. hope that I c a n win. I ride_as ' hard as my tires , my bike and my body w ill allow ; . sometirnes it i s enough , and somet imes it is not but always I enjoy ! C h ris Walk er, T o se land 's teamm at e, finished fift h, and an o uts t an d ing rid e fro m Foggy Petron as' Troy Co rser put him sixth on the un ique three-c ylin der 900cc ma chine. New parts and a cooler Xaus was as tenacious as ever in race one, taking the w in (his fourth of the year! over Hodgson. runn ing m oto r allowed the 19 9 6 cham p to run around • Ass en 's curves at high speed , even if h is team m at e James Haydon had to m iss the race week Leon [Haslam] , and com ing out of the e n d w ith injuries picked up It appea red that the new -generahairpin, I knew I was quicker than him in practice . tio n Dunlop tires did no t wo rk quite as throu gh the second chicane. T he bike "This weekend has given everyone well in the second . faste r race, even if ran consistently throug hout that race, a lift and show s that we are making the conditions were coole r - several and the tempera ture sta yed consisprogress : Cor ser said. " T h e sixth tent. My Michelin tires were also good, Dun lop riders slow ed at the end . p la ce in th e firs t race was wha t I sli ding a littl e but , again, consistently. Du cat i NC R's Regis Laconi scored thought we were capable of going into fo u rth in race two after being bl ack The second race was more difficu lt, as this ro u nd. I knew I had a big gap the bike did no t feel the same and was flagged from the opener for ret urn ing be hi nd m e and that I didn't have to to the pi tb ox , for repa irs, not ju st pit dro p pi ng off thro ug ho u t. The sa me push too early . So I sat there in eighth lane. An ot her fru st rat ing non po di um riders th at I co uld c at c h in th e fi rst and saved the tires a little bit. With day for Laco n i. at a track he cou ld race were just p ulli ng away , as I had two lap s to go I upped the pace, and ha ve excelled on. lost a bit of to rq ue ." wh en Cl em enti m issed a ge ar in the Chil i, agai n the hero of one race at In the seco nd of the 16 -l ap races, fina l ch ica ne of the pen ultimate lap, I lea st, was fifth in the seco nd running , Hodgson got the win he so desired , at was able t o ou tdraft him down t h e with young Br it Leon Haslam ha ving a IO-second-faster p ac e t ha n race stra igh t and take him goi ng into tu rn an exce lle nt ride to six th pl ace, earn o ne, w ith Xaus seco nd an d A lstare one. T hen I got righ t on the back of ing 10 c h am p io n sh ip p o in t s in th e Suzuki's Gregorio Lavilla ( w h o cy cle ne _ S • S EP T E M B ER 17, 2003 19