'Satisfied' Hodgson aiming for top six

Britain's world superbike champion, Neil Hodgson, yesterday began a three-year campaign to dominate MotoGP racing when he completed a 73-lap test of his new 990cc Ducati on the Sepang circuit in Malaysia.

Hodgson lapped in 2min 6.948sec in his first ride on the 3.7-mile track. "I'm satisfied," he said. "It's a complicated circuit, and I had a little get-off in the morning. But we still have two days ahead, and I'm optimistic."

The 30-year-old Blackburn rider had the satisfaction of beating Ruben Xaus, his team-mate in the Spanish-run d'Antin Ducati squad, who was troubled by mechanical problems. Xaus completed only 25 laps, with a best time of 2min 7.024sec.

The Italian Max Biaggi underlined the challenge facing Hodgson in the British rider's debut MotoGP season. Biaggi lapped in 2min 2.693sec on his V5 Honda, a massive 4.25sec faster than the V4 Ducati.

But Hodgson said: "I want to make friends with the bike and use this test as a benchmark to develop. There's no point in risking a crash this early in the season."

Hodgson's Ducati Desmosedici is officially the world's fastest racing motorcycle - it was timed at 206mph during tests last year. But it is last year's model, which the satellite d'Antin team has leased from the Ducati factory in Italy. Most of Hodgson's MotoGP rivals, however, will have the benefit of riding brand-new 2004 designs.

"Neil's got his head around the fact that he's riding to impress people," his manager, the former grand prix rider Roger Burnett, said.

"He has to ride the wheels off the bike this year so that everyone can see that he is capable of using a better bike next season. He's starting the year cautiously, but he wants to get into the top six in the championship table by the end of the season."

The world champion, Valentino Rossi, who made a high-risk move from the dominant Honda brand to Yamaha during the winter, lapped in 2min 3.1sec. "We need to work on the engine characteristics and front-end feeling," the Italian said.

Hodgson hopes to close the gap on his rivals when the MotoGP testing programme moves to the Phillip Island circuit in Australia next week.