AMA
Daytona: Ducati Austin qualifying report
HODGSON ON FRONT ROW FOR DAYTONA SUPERBIKE Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin's Neil Hodgson qualified on the front row for Saturday's opening round of the AMA Superbike championship at Daytona, taking third position in his first qualifying ...
Edited: Mar 12, 2005, 10:50 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
HODGSON ON FRONT ROW FOR DAYTONA SUPERBIKE
Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin's Neil Hodgson qualified on the front row for Saturday's opening round of the AMA Superbike championship at Daytona, taking third position in his first qualifying session as an AMA regular. Just one day after rain ended the racing action at Daytona early, Hodgson and teammate Eric Bostrom put in their qualifying runs on board their factory Ducati 999s in clear and sunny conditions. Bostrom will start the prestigious opening event of the AMA season from ninth position.
Hodgson, a former British and World Superbike Champion, impressed as he improved his lap times on the 2.95 mile (4.7 kilometer) track, home of the historic American motorcycle race. Despite relatively little track time due to the weather, Neil showed his professionalism by working up to speed quickly on the difficult banked oval. Neil said he didn't use a tow from another rider, a common tactic at the Speedway, to set his fast qualifying time of 1:39.884. "My strategy was to go as fast as I could. I didn't really want to even follow anyone. I was just trying to do my own thing," said Neil. "I was working on the settings a little bit, so I needed to just concentrate on me and my bike, and just get the feeling and understand it."
Hodgson said the intricacies of Daytona make things difficult as riders fight for victory. The 31 degree banked section of the track has walls just inches away from the racing line. "We're professional motorcycle racers, and then you come to Daytona and it's almost a different skill. It feels so alien to us," said Neil. "I don't think you get used to the feeling of it, because there's no grip on the infield, and the banking is the banking. So I'm pleased to be on the front row. Hopefully there's a little bit more to come in the front end direction, based on that session."
Eric Bostrom will start the race from ninth position after a 1:41.654 lap. "We didn't make as much progress as we would have liked. I felt like I was riding hard, sliding the front and sliding the rear in spots. I've been around long enough to know where the limits are and I was pretty close to them. The lap times just weren't there for us today. We'll keep our heads down and try to come up with a solution for the race on Saturday."
"We're impressed and proud of Neil for doing so well in his first AMA qualifying session against some very good competition," said Team Manager Tom Bodenbach. "We'll see how the race goes, pace-wise. We're in pretty good shape for the race. Eric has some things to sort out, but the guys are working on it. We're going to do our best to get him in position so when he gets his normal good start, he can fight for a podium."
Saturday's Superbike race, which gets underway at 11.15 am local time, will be over 15 laps.
<pre> STARTING-GRID: 1. Mat Mladin Suzuki 1:38.232 2. Ben Spies Suzuki 1:38.963 3. NEIL HODGSON Ducati 999 1:39.884 4. Aaron Yates Suzuki 1:39.894 5. Geoff May Suzuki 1:40.608 6. Miguel DuHamel Honda 1:40.875
9. ERIC BOSTROM Ducati 999 1:41.654
-www.ducatiaustin.com
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article AP: Sepang round one preview
Next article Las Vegas Thursday report
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Geoff May
Giugliano breaks Losail best lap to claim Superpole
World Superbike
World Superbike
Losail
Giugliano breaks Losail best lap to claim Superpole
High stakes for the penultimate round at Magny-Cours
World Superbike
World Superbike
Magny-Cours
High stakes for the penultimate round at Magny-Cours
WSBK action resumes at Jerez for Round 10
World Superbike
World Superbike
Jerez
WSBK action resumes at Jerez for Round 10
Latest news
Toto Wolff: Two sponsors left Mercedes after promoting Kimi Antonelli into F1
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
7 min
Toto Wolff: Two sponsors left Mercedes after promoting Kimi Antonelli into F1
Winners and losers from the penultimate round of 2026 NASCAR Cup season at Martinsville
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Martinsville II
16 min
Winners and losers from the penultimate round of 2026 NASCAR Cup season at Martinsville
Cadillac to investigate high-speed Mexico GP failure that led to angry Valtteri Bottas reaction
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
21 min
Cadillac to investigate high-speed Mexico GP failure that led to angry Valtteri Bottas reaction
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe