Hodgson Checks in

Henny Ray Abrams | March 21, 2009

Corona Extra Honda’s Neil Hodgson wants to let his fans know that he’s as anxious as they are that he recover his fitness so he can get back on the race track.The 2003 World Superbike Champion started the season with a second place finish in the Daytona American Superbike race. But last Sunday, while training for this weekend’s second round of the AMA Pro Road Racing series, the Isle of Man resident suffered serious injuries in a motocross accident. Hodgson punctured a lung, cracked ribs, and dislocated his left shoulder when he unavoidably hit a downed rider while riding his Honda CRF450R at Racetown 395 in Adelanto, California. He’s been hospitalized in Loma Linda University Medical Center ever since, though he hopes to be released today.Said Hodgson, “Hi everybody!  I just wanted to start off by first apologizing to all my sponsors, fans, and team members for this minor setback. As you know, I have always taken my racing very seriously, and fitness has always been an important part of the sport.  Unfortunately, this time I have been very unlucky by sustaining a couple of nasty injuries.”As you can imagine I am doing everything in my power to get healthy as quickly as possible, so hopefully I’ll be back racing sooner rather than later.  I want to thank everyone who has sent e-mails, texts, and made phone calls! Your support is greatly appreciated!  I want to wish everyone a successful and safe weekend at Fontana.”But he had special greetings for Jake Holden, the rider who is replacing him this weekend.  “Please don’t bend my bike Jake! Good luck!”

Henny Ray Abrams | Contributing Editor

Abrams is the longest-serving contributor at Cycle News. Over the course of his 35-some years of writing and shooting photos, he’s covered events from MotoGP to the Motocross World Championship - and everything in between.