American Honda’s Neil Hodgson fought for podium positions in both
rounds of the AMA Superbike Championship at Auto Club Speedway in
Fontana, California, but a mistake in the same corner in both races
prevented him from finishing on the box. Still, he came away from the
wind-blown, sun-baked weekend with a pair of fourth place finishes,
his best since joining the American Honda team.

Teammate Miguel Duhamel turned in his best laps of the weekend late
in Saturday’s Superbike race. But he’d put himself in a hole early in
the race which didn’t allow him to challenge as strongly as he might
have. On Sunday, an engine problem put a premature halt to his race
as he was making a run on the trio contesting fourth, one that
included his teammate.

Saturday’s race saw Hodgson moving into third place on the ninth lap
of Saturday’s 28-lap affair and holding it until the 23rd lap. That’s
when Tommy Hayden, the older brother of Repsol Honda’s Nicky Hayden,
made a pass for the final podium position. Hodgson was making a run
at Hayden when he overshot the transition from the banking into the
infield. It didn’t cost him a position, just time that he wasn’t able
to recover.

On Sunday he didn’t start as well and had to come from behind, which
he did. Again he found himself chasing Tommy Hayden. And although he
was able to shrink the deficit, he wasn’t able to gain the position.
And again he mistimed the infield approach.

"In general I’m pleased," he said before heading back to his home on
the Isle of Man for a quick visit. "Daytona we qualified tenth and
finished seventh. Barber we qualified sixth and had two fifths. So we
qualified sixth here and had two fourths. We have got a new
motorcycle. No excuses. We’re definitely making steps forward and we
know where we need to improve the bike."

Duhamel finished seventh on Saturday, improving his lap times as his
fuel load decreased. Changes to the machine improved his confidence
on Sunday, but an engine problem dropped him from the field on the
10th of 28 laps.

The teams now have just over a week’s rest before a test at Miller
Motorsports Park, site of the American round of the World Superbike
Championship in early June. From there they head to the wine country
for the fourth round of the championship at Infineon Raceway in
Sonoma, California on May 18.