Hodgson took 41 podiums, 16 wins and one world title as a WSBK rider, before an ill-fated move to
MotoGP in 2004 stopped his career in its tracks. Hodgson returned to Ducati, albeit in the AMA Superbike championship, the following season, but his quest to add the American crown to his British and World titles was unsuccessful.
Ducati's withdraw from the AMA series at the end of 2006, citing unfair technical rules for its v-twin, prompted Hodgson to seek what would have been a popular return to the world championship. The Englishman expected Ducati to slot him back into its WSBK team, but was overlooked in favour of
Lorenzo Lanzi - leaving him 'unemployed' this season.
The 33-year-old made clear he wasn't going to retire and quickly turned his attention to 2008, when his WSBK return looked likely. However, wary of losing out once again, Hodgson has surprised many by accepting an early two-year AMA offer from Honda America.
"I think there's an element of disappointment in that a lot of people would have liked to have seen Neil in the World Superbike championship - including me!" Burnett told
Crash.net Radio. "But you have to respect what Neil wants to do and only he knows really.
"In the old days back in the early '90s - I first got involved with Neil in 1992 - and then all the way through his career he's pretty much let me guide him and we've made the right decisions, it would seem. I'm not saying that this is not the right decision, but I'm saying that Neil makes his own decisions these days. This is a decision Neil's made and it's down to personal preference of what he really wants to do.
"He's going to replace Jake Zemke, who has arguably had enough chances to prove himself in AMA and on a factory bike. I think Neil will be strong; he's a determined character and Neil can pretty much do anything he wants, if he wants to do it bad enough.
"If he wants this bad enough there's no reason why he can't fulfil his ambition of being a World Superbike champion, a British Superbike champion and an AMA Superbike champion," Burnett concluded.
Hodgson's previous two seasons in the AMA yielded one win, nine podiums and a best of fifth in the championship.
