Neil Hodgson prepares for the 1998 World Superbike season. The haircut was actually the best part of it. image by kawasaki

Q. You were racing and working as what we in America call a construction laborer. Do you remember was the last day you worked?

A. Worked, as in?

Q. Worked at your job as a builder. Was there a "last day?"

A. There was a last day. There was definitely a last day. I can't remember it that clearly. I can't remember what I was doing. I remember leaving the workshop and feeling a bit sad. I remember taking my tools, because I had a big toolbox that I'd made.

Q. What year was that?

A. That was the end of 1992.

Q. You were thinking, "This racing is going to work" ...

A. Yeah. "This is going to work." At that stage you don't think about money. You don't think about making a living out of it, as such. I just thought I was going to go (to) Grand Prix racing, and we'll see what happens.

Q. You packed your tools...

A. Picked up my tools, put them in the back of the car, and they're still in my dad's garage now. And since, there's been a few situations where my dad's like, "What are you going to do with them tools?" And I'm like, "Them tools are staying right there."

Because it's like an omen. The day I get rid of them, or give them away, is the day it all goes wrong and you need them again. You know what I mean? One of my very good friends from school's a builder, and we went to college together, because you used to go on day release to learn how to lay bricks. He's always saying, "Why don't you give me your trowel? I bet your trowel's still in good nick." And it is, and everything's there just perfect. Just in case I need it.

Q. That last day, did you shake the boss's hand...?

A. It was all that. It was "local boy's come good." This is a real dull place called Coln, which is a real working-class town, and it's in a valley, and the sun doesn't get into Coln. People aren't on television from Coln. So luckily, they were really proud. I've stayed in touch with everybody. I usually see them once a year. I still get Christmas cards off them.

Q. So, then what happened the next year?

"Then the following year, I got Carl [Fogarty] as a teammate, so another really nice, relaxing, easy sort of person as a teammate."

A. What basically happened that year is it all went wrong then. See, I was only 21 years old, and I'd had the year I'd had. If I'd had that now, I'd be all singing, all dancing. Full factory. And it just - I've got one regret in my career. I'll retire a happy man if I retire tomorrow. I've one regret, and that is at the end of that year, I didn't get the opportunity I deserved.

Q. It seems odd, that British rider with promise...

So my manager looked for different options, and approached - what happened is I got a test on a factory Yamaha Superbike, and I went pretty well on it, and then I got a chance to test the Ducati at Mugello, and I went really good. So we then approached Ducati, and Ducati would give me the dream ride in Superbikes. But you know what, in a daft sort of way, I didn't know anything about Superbikes, I'd no real interest in Superbikes. All I knew is that Carl Fogarty was good, because he was a local guy, and he was like a bit of a hero to me. So that year, at the end of '95, I was testing at Phillip Island with Ducati, with John Kocinski as my teammate, which is all a bit weird, as you can imagine. So I'd gone from never having a teammate to having officially the worst one in history. Baptism of fire is an understatement.

Q. How was your relationship with the Superbike initially? While they're not that different now, back then going to a Superbike from a 500 were like switching from a fast horse to a bicycle.

A. Initially, surprisingly, I got on with it straightaway, and I was fast straightaway, really fast. At all the tests I was really quick. But one thing I never did, and it was my inexperience completely, and the team's inexperience, because I had quite a young team, even though it was the official Ducati team - we were Team Qualifier. We were three laps, new tire. Five laps, new tire. Three laps, new tire. And then "let's put some qualifiers on." "Yeah, let's, do a good lap time." And I was good at doing good lap times. I'd finish the test a tenth behind Kocinski, who was supposed to be the god at the time.

So at the start of the season, I was really confident. Come the first race - I'll never forget the first race, it was at bloody Misano. And I went from fifth and I finished 12th. Because I'd never actually ridden this bike on warm tires, and it just felt horrendous. I must've done 8,000 - 8,000,000 miles in testing, but I'd never done any decent stints. It was really inexperience. And I just really struggled to get used to it.

And I was on Michelins at the time, and it's when Michelins were the old-style Michelins, that used to love highsiding you. And I had one highside, then another, then another, then another, and I just - the more I got highsided, the more I didn't know why I kept getting highsided, the more you don't want to get highsided. I started really confident, and by the end of the season, I'd lost a lot of confidence, really. And for the first time in my career, my roadracing career, I thought, "I don't enjoy this." That was a bit weird. Up until that point, it had all been step forward, step forward, relaxed, happy.

Q. Virginio [Ferrari] was running the team then?

A. Right. And it was - I have a lot of time for Virginio, I've not seen him for a long time, but it was organized chaos. Big style. It really was. I wish - if (Davide) Tardozzi had been organizing it then, I'd have had a lot better chance. He did a lot better job with me. He'd have helped me more. Virginio tried to help me personally, but he didn't help the team to help me.

Q. Your confidence had taken some hits.

"Wednesday night I'm in surgery having my kneecap screwed together, and my arm's completely fu*%ed. And I never recovered from that, really."

A. Some hits. I had some decent-ish results. Again, when I look back, I'd sort of beat myself up a little bit. And then you think, I had a podium at Laguna Seca, which is quite cool, and I was chasing Corser and Kocinski in the race, and then just settled for third because I'd never had a podium before. I had lots of fourth places.

But I expected to do better. More so because of what I'd done in testing, because I always qualified on the front row, because I was good at this one-lap thing, because I'd practiced it. So I was pretty disappointed, but positive about the following year.

Then the following year, I got Carl [Fogarty] as a teammate, so another really nice, relaxing, easy sort of person as a teammate. So pre-season stuff, I was as fast as Carl everywhere, faster than him at some tracks as well, and I was really motivated. Did lots of training. I was pretty much ready for it.

The start of the season didn't really go according to plan. I had a few crashes, DNFs, in races, and it just wasn't going too right. And then we turned up at Hockenheim, which I don't know if you ever saw the race at Hockenheim, but I led most of the race at Hockenheim. You come in, in the last lap into this last little final, infield section, Fogarty barged me off the racing line, and I hit some oil and nearly crashed and ended up off the track. Which is like a real downer, but it was really positive. I was dead pissed-off. But it was the first time I'd led the race for like 12 laps or something, and I felt, "Shit." It felt natural to lead the race.

Anyway, I was pissed off. I went home, got on my motocross bike, and ... broke my kneecap and separated my shoulder. On the Wednesday. Which was not a good move to make. Wednesday night I'm in surgery having my kneecap screwed together, and my arm's completely f@*ked. And I never recovered from that, really.

I continued to race. I missed a couple of races, but then came back, my leg was weak, shoulder was weak, and I really struggled. I'd sort of, right near the end of the season, thrown the towel in with the Ducati. I just thought, "I don't like the tires. I don't like the bike. The Ducati's never going to suit my riding style." I couldn't understand why I just couldn't get it right. And then I thought, "I want to get back up on the box. I want to get on a four-cylinder that slides more. More like the 500 did."

Hodgson's World Superbike career needed a defibulator after 1998. He left WSBK lost and demoralized. Luckily he still had those tools--and not the ones in the garage. image by kawasaki

Q. When Harald Eckl was "running" the Kawasaki World Superbike, right?

A. Yeah.

Q. How would you describe yourself going into that Kawasaki period? Were you still battered?

A. No.

Q. Were you mentally battered?

A. (Pauses) I was mentally battered at this stage. And again, I'd had another year where I'd thought, "This racing business is not what I expected it to be. It's not a holiday. It's not all fun, it's not all wheelieing your paddock bike up and down the paddock." I was experiencing negative press, which is a really hard thing for a young kid. When it's all good, there's a famous saying of "If you're going to sit and look at the Internet and read all the positive comments, and sit back there with your chest out, you've got to be prepared to read the negative ones." Because it's a double-edged blade, it works both ways. That's why you don't bother reading the positive stuff. Don't read the negative stuff. It's so true. You learn that now, but again, that second year, I was only 23. So reading all the negative stuff, MCN (England's Motorcycle News) a little bit, "I'm a flop, I'm this, that and the other." You know what MCN's like. It doesn't pull any punches, really. That's their style. So it was really hurtful. The fans sort of - Fogarty was king, Fogarty could do no wrong, and I was really a bit of a waste of time. Mentally I was not in good shape, entering the '98 season.

Q. Being teamed with Carl - you're a nice guy, Carl is...not a nice guy.

A. No. Yeah.

Q. How did that work? He won't hesitate a moment to -

A. Stick a knife in you. Yeah. I learned a lot. I did learn a lot. I learned a lot, but you don't change the person you are, so if you think I'm a nice guy, I'm a nice guy, if you think he's a bad guy, he's a bad guy. But I didn't learn to be a bad guy with people. I just learned certain things. I learned his attitude of never giving in. I tried to learn all the positive stuff. Psychological games - I've never been one much for that. It's not my way of doing it. It's great if you can do it. I think I'm crap at doing psychological games. The best psychological game is go out and be as fast as you can be. For me, that'll do me. Having Eric Bostrom last year as a teammate, I didn't play one psychological game on him, and I'm pretty sure he didn't play one on me. If he did, I didn't notice it. I never felt it. That's the way I am, really.

Q. The Kawasaki deal was for one year?

A. It was one year with an option for two, when I signed.

Q. And then I heard that Harald Eckl sprung that end-of-season surprise on you, where he said you had to win or you were out, right?

"I never wanted to ride for Kawasaki again. And I still to this day, I would never ride for Kawasaki."

A. Yeah. It was one year - it was one year with a two-year option, but "don't worry, the two-year deal's in the bag." That's how it was all through the season. And that year, they ran me ragged. I went to Japan eight times, testing, everything. Doing everything. Doing the 200K race, whatever it is. Then doing the 8-Hour. Which I understood all that. But they worked me ragged. And that year, no excuses, the bike was poor. The development had all gone wrong on it. Yanagawa and Crafar, the year before, had been on the podium near the end of the season all the time. Crafar was incredibly grim at the end of that year. Well, the following year, Yanagawa had one podium all year. From being not off it in his first year. So yeah, it was a tough year. Everything went wrong.

Q. Were you on Öhlins that year, or was that the White Power (suspension) year?

A. No, we were on Öhlins. So really, really struggled, and then just when you thought next year's going to be better, they said they won't work me as hard next year, with all the Japanese stuff - and I mean, right at the eleventh hour, guess what ... "

If you need to know how Hodgson's Kawasaki season went ... and we won't even bring up the fight with Aaron Slight on the track at Sugo. In short, it sucked. image by kawasaki

Q. "If you don't win this race, you don't have a ride."

A. Exactly.

Q. That's the way it was put to you?

A. Yeah. So that were that. I didn't win. [Laughing] I'm glad I didn't, as well. How things turn out. That was a relief I didn't win.

Q. Eckl was a rider before he ran a team. Was it difficult to work for someone who had ridden?

A. No, he actually wasn't too bad. I just felt a little bit upset - not a little bit, I felt very upset that - I don't know if he was put in a position where he was lied to, but I definitely was lied to. And the words came from his mouth. So I don't know if the carpet got pulled from under his feet from people above him, or not, but you sort of wish someone had been more honest with you. Especially an ex-rider. So I definitely left there with not a nice taste in my mouth, and I never wanted to ride for Kawasaki again. And I still to this day, I would never ride for Kawasaki. If I've no other option to take, I'll never ride for Kawasaki.

Q. You'd go home?

A. Yeah. And I don't mind saying that myself, without any problem at all.