From a press release issued by d’Antin Ducati:

A special event

After having overcome difficulties in Brazil and Germany, now the d´Antin MotoGP riders come to a much more welcoming location for them, and especially for Neil Hodgson, who will have the extra boost of riding in front of his home support.

The Superbikes series is particularly popular in Great Britain and both the reigning World Champion and Runner-up (Neil and Ruben), have masses of fans in the country, and furthermore it is a track they both know, which will give them another lift to their confidence compared to other races this year where they are beginning from scratch.

Donington has been an ever-present on the championship calendar since 1987, when it took over from Silverstone and it is a typically British track, requiring the utmost of effort from both rider and machine. One of the most crucial factors at this circuit has always been the lack of grip, but new for this year is a resurfaced asphalt.

NEIL HODGSON: “this is probably the most important race of the year for me. Of course they’re all important, but to ride at home is always special, and on top of that Donington is a circuit I really like and which I have good memories of. In 2000 it was incredible, because I won a round of the World Superbike championship as a wild-card.
There are a lot of tracks like this is England. It’s almost as though there were two different tracks in one, with a fluid first half and the second much slower and with some hard-braking. If you get a good set-up here a rider can make all the difference, and I’m sure that the fans are going to see some great races. I’ve never ridden here with the Desmosedici, but I’m sure things will go right this weekend and we can do our best race yet.”

RUBEN XAUS: “This year we’re starting from zero practically everywhere we go, but if you know the track, at least you have something to work from. The last two races have been hard, but we have managed to finish them, picking up points in the process, and most importantly, picking up experience. Now we go to Donington and coming from Germany it is nice to be back at a circuit I know. Even so, it’s a difficult track but we will work as we always do from the very first session and I hope to keep going in the way that we have done so far. I am absolutely confident that if we get the right setting for the bike we can be in the top ten and I hope that can be the case this weekend. I have always felt a lot of affection from the English public and I’d like to put on a good show for them.”