Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

MotoGP refugee and 2003 Superbike World Champion Neil Hodgson is a candidate to become Eric Bostrom’s teammate on the Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin AMA Superbike team in 2005.

Ducati Corse Superbike Racing Director Paolo Ciabatti confirmed that Hodgson was being considered for the ride in an e-mail to Roadracingworld.com Thursday. A final announcement regarding the second rider could be made as early as mid-November, he wrote.

Hodgson, who will be 31 on November 20, was born in England and currently lives on the Isle of Man. The son of a club racer, he won the 1992 British 125cc Grand Prix Championship and went into the 125cc World Championship the following year. He made his 500cc Grand Prix debut in 1994 on a Harris Yamaha YZR500 and campaigned the entire 1995 500cc GP World Championship on a WCM ROC-Yamaha YZR500, finishing 11th in the points with a best race finish of seventh.

In 1996, Hodgson started a long Superbike racing career, spending most of his time on Ducatis in World Superbike with a best result of fourth in the 1999 World Superbike Championship. In 2000, he came back to the British Superbike series and won the title with GSE Racing. Hodgson then went back to World Superbike, finishing fifth in 2001, third in 2002 and, as a factory Ducati rider, winning the Championship in 2003 with 13 wins and 20 podium finishes in 24 races. He has 16 wins and 41 podiums in his 147 career World Superbike starts.

Hodgson returned to the premier class of motorcycle road racing this year with d’Antin Ducati. The veteran struggled with six DNFs during the season and has only finished in the points seven times, his best finish of eighth coming at Motegi, where six riders were taken out in a first-corner melee.