DAYTONA BEACH, FL, DEC 7: American Honda’s Neil Hodgson finished the three-day Dunlop Daytona tire test with the fastest time among a sparse field of American Superbike riders.
Hodgson’s best lap of 1:38.030 was faster than the fastest Superstock lap from the March race and slower than the fastest lap from the Superbike race, and in line with the current state of engine tuning. Hodgson’s Honda CBR1000RR is a work in progress, a mixture of the 2008 and 2009 rules that will continue to evolve with the expected allowance of at least one major engine part.
The time was done on a sunny, cold day at Daytona, with Hodgson sharing the track with only three other riders; Yamaha’s Ben Bostrom and Josh Hayes, and Pegram Racing’s Larry Pegram. Pegram was the second fastest rider at a gap of 1.3 secs. to Hodgson.
“We definitely made some progress,” Hodgson said before heading to Orlando to catch a flight back to England, where he’ll spend the holidays with his family on the Isle of Man. “It’s difficult around here, because, obviously, as I said before, there’s no grip on the infield and the rest of the track you’re wide open. So you have to do it in five laps on the first day you get here. That’s the maximum you’re going to get around most of the banking, because I’m wide open.
“My bike’s fast. So then you have to make up all of your time on the infield. So even though we only made some really small improvements in time, it’s hard to find that. And to knock two-tenths off in that whole infield, you’re like you’ve got a gun to your head, because you’re already at zero grip for the rear. So you’re sort of doing it like you’re wchasing on the entry.”
The team made chassis adjustments that didn’t drastically impact the times, but made achieving them much easier.
“Today we made some changes, raised the bike, and did some other stuff. It was easy,” he said. “I could’ve done mid-38’s without really struggling. It was effort yesterday to do a high-38 and mid-38; I felt at the limit. And at the end I did my fastest lap on a tire I’d done at least eight or nine laps on; I had my second run on it. Surprised me really, because when the tire’s fresh around here you can really make some time. I wanted to put a new tire on at the end, but we’d run out of tires.”
All in all, Hodgson said he was “really encouraged. Them times are pretty competitive. It’s faster than what they did in the Superstock race and what they qualified on the qualifiers. And the tracks been on the green side throughout the test, like it always is at the Dunlop tire test. When we came in for the race, everyone went miles faster than they did for the test, so I’m really happy, really happy. We know where we need to improve the bike and we’re going to improve the bike, so we can come back here and hopefully find at least half a second roundabout in the bike.”
Hodgson will return to the U.S. early in January to begin training, though American Honda has not made a firm commitment to race. Asked what the team’s road race plans were for 2009, race team manager Jon Row said, “They’re not decided yet. That’s basically it.”
If the team does race, Hodgson will likely test in January and again in early February, when there may be a test organized by AMA Pro Racing at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.
Sunday American Superbike:
1. Neil Hodgson (Honda) 1:38.030
2. Larry Pegram (Ducati) 1:39.329
3. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha) 1:39.996
4. Josh Hayes (Yamaha) 1:40.256
Sunday Daytona SportBike:
1. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha) 1:49.842
2. Josh Hayes (Yamaha) 1:51.489
3. Josh Herrin (Yamaha) 1:51.576
4. Dane Westby (Yamaha) 1:53.167
5. Jake Zemke (Honda) 2:12.801
