2022 Manx GP: Hodson wins Classic Superbike thriller

Rob Hodson won a thrilling Classic Superbike race at the Manx Grand Prix on Monday afternoon with the Greenall Racing Kawasaki locked in battle with similarly-mounted Craig Neve for much of the four-lap race.

However, the Alasdair Cowan Racing rider went out at Greeba on the final lap, which gave Hodson a more comfortable run to the end and with Nathan Harrison setting the fastest lap of the race on the final lap, he grabbed second from 2019 winner David Johnson to make it a Greenall Racing 1-2. As the riders swept through Glen Helen for the first time, it was Neve who led by one second from Michael Dunlop (Team Classic Suzuki) with Brian McCormack on the third Greenall machine a further 0.87s back. Harrison, Hodson and Neve’s team-mate Johnson followed. Neve still led at Ballaugh but the gap was down to 0.3s with Hodson now up to third ahead of team-mates McCormack and Harrison and Johnson. The gap between the front two was almost identical at Ramsey and whilst Johnson was the first to complete the lap at 124.455mph, an opening lap of 125.185mph saw Neve extend his lead to 1.2s. It was now Hodson in second though with Dunlop dropping to third and Johnson slotted into fourth with Harrison and McCormack in fifth and sixth. At Glen Helen on lap two, Neve had added three tenths of a second to his lead with the gap to Hodson 1.5s but Johnson, Harrison and McCormack all moved up a place as Dunlop dropped back to sixth. Hodson grabbed the lead for the first time at the Bungalow and a second lap speed of 125.935mph gave him a 2.5s lead over Neve as they pitted for fuel whilst the gap between Harrison and Johnson was just 0.806s. McCormack was still in fifth and although Dunlop completed the lap, he climbed off the bike and