Neil Hodgson Wraps up 2003 World Superbike
Championship at Assen
08 September 2003
Britain gained a new World Champion as Ducati Fila's Neil
Hodgson finished second in the first race at Assen behind Ruben Xaus
and took a thrilling victory in race two to wrap up the 2003 World Superbike
Championship. Hodgson, who needed just ten points to clinch the title,
and his Spanish team-mate put on a fantastic show for the 76,000 strong
crowd, which included thousands of British supporters who had crossed
the Channel to see Hodgson's title win.
Hodgson becomes the second British rider to win the Superbike
crown after Ducati legend Carl Fogarty, and the tenth Ducati rider to
win the coveted world title. The Italian manufacturer has dominated
the 2003 WSBK championship for streetbike-derived machines and this
year, with the new-for-2003 Ducati 999, it has won both the Riders'
and Manufacturers' titles.
Ducati Motor Holding President Federico Minoli, commenting
on the victory, said: "This is another important chapter in the
history of Ducati and the championship-winning 999 will take its pride
of place in the Ducati museum! We are very proud of the 999's performance
in its first year of racing".
Ducati Corse managing director Claudio Domenicali added:
"This is a historic moment for Ducati. Winning the riders' and
manufacturers' titles in the 999's first year, in a year in which Ducati
has had many commitments, is a prestigious achievement. Substituting
the 998 was not an easy task but we have managed to prove that the 999
is already an exceptional machine and that Neil has become a successful
and mature rider in his first year with us. This victory has also come
about thanks to the support of all our partners and sponsors and special
thanks must go to Shell, who developed specific Advance lubricants for
our engines, and Michelin, with whom we have now won seven riders' titles".
"It hasn't sunk in yet" declared Neil immediately
after he stepped off the podium. "All I can think about is the
race, which I was trying to win. I've never suffered from concentration
so bad, but at a certain point I was thinking 'this is it, this is it,
I'm world champion'. I've been focussed all weekend but because of the
battle with Ruben, I just tensed up and was unable to relax and go for
the race win.
"It means so much to me to win this championship"
he added. "I've been racing since 1990, I've had an up-and-down
career but now I've proved a few people wrong by winning the title and
I truly feel I can move on from here. I'd just like to dedicate the
title to Kathryn and our baby girl, as well as my chief engineer and
right-hand man Ernesto Marinelli, who couldn't make it here due to a
recent accident".
Ruben Xaus, who rode a storming race to take his fourth
win of the year in race 1, immediately congratulated his Ducati Fila
team-mate on his championship victory. "Congratulations to Neil
and Ducati Fila, who have done a fantastic job all through the year.
It was a pretty difficult race because there was so much tension between
Neil and myself. I didn't want to make any mistakes but I did, throughout
the race. Sometimes I was faster than him, and he was faster than me,
we had to take the battle right down to the last lap, when I think Neil
relaxed a bit because he knew he was going to be world champion".
The Ducati 999's triumphant day was completed with another
victory for the promising young Italian Lorenzo Lanzi (Team Rox Ducati)
in the round of the European Superstock Championship.
See series calendar for SBK
World Superbike Championship 2003
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