Insiders knew something was up when Hodgson made a one-off appearance at the first of two AMA nationals held at Laguna Seca in 2007, the same weekend as the MotoGP race there. Hodgson rode a CBR1000RR, under Corona Racing colors but crewed by American Honda Racing staff. Hodgson rode a great race, considering that it was his first race outing on the Honda—doubly so since he’s raced twin-cylinder machines exclusively for more than a decade. His three-way battle with Duhamel and Aaron Yates was probably the best racing of the event, even if Hodgson didn’t come out on top.

First, a little about the man for those who don’t know: Hodgson was born and raised in England. He started racing when he was just nine years old, and by 1992 was the British 125cc Champion. After a few GP races in the early ’90s, he raced both British Superbike and World Superbike, winning the British national title in 2000 and the World Superbike title in 2003. In 2005 and 2006 he raced in America for the Parts Unlimited Ducati team, and sat out the 2007 season—except for the one ride on the Corona Honda CBR1000RR at Laguna.

What does Hodgson think of his ride with Team Honda, and not racing for most of last year? “I've realized it's been one massive positive, and that's made me realize how much this sport means to me genuinely. I think when you're immersed in motorcycle racing, and I have been since I was nine. When you're immersed in it you get to the point where you start to think, ‘Well, I've maybe got a year left in me and I'll retire and do something else.’ And, God, having a year off has made me realize how much I've missed the competition and I'm so not ready to retire. I feel I've still got that burning desire to win. The big positive is, I think it [the layoff] has really extended my career, prevented me from maybe retiring and then looking back in three or four years’ time thinking, ‘Why did I do that?’”

Hodgson lives in California now, and trains by riding a Honda CRF250R motocrosser. And being a world-ranked rider has other perks: When we contacted him, Hodgson was going to do some Supermoto riding with Nicky Hayden in a couple of weeks as a bit of cross-training. As if shifting to a new team, changing from twins to an inline four, and helping develop the new CBR1000RR racebike weren’t enough, Hodgson also has to prepare for a one-off race, but one that’s terribly important: the Daytona 200, which he’ll ride on a CBR600RR.

Hodgson has never raced 600s, but he’s quite taken by the FX-spec Honda. (A point of trivia: Hodgson actually raced the Daytona 200 once before, back in 1995.) He tested one at Daytona recently, in November at the Dunlop tire test. “It’s lovely, beautiful. It makes enough power, but not too much. It’s wonderful to ride.”

Honda’s Road Racing Team Manager Ron Heben notes that Hodgson “feels like the team is family. There’s good crossover between Miguel’s guys and his guys. We’re all trying to develop this new bike [the 2008 CBR1000RR] together. The more track time on the bike he gets, the more confident he is, about the bike, the team, and himself. It’s all looking good.”