Donington disaster for Hodgson.

Cameron's Castle Eden Honda rider Russ Hodgson's undulating season finally came to an end in the Donington Park gravel trap when he collided with another rider in the early stages of the final 125cc national race at the Leicestershire circuit.

The 21-year-old from Yarm had qualified on the front row of the grid and was confident of a good result in front of over 27,000 fans as he slotted into fourth place on the opening lap.

Denied a victory earlier in the season at Donington when a gust of wind blew him off whilst holding a three second lead on the last lap, Hodgson was biding his time as Irish teenager Eugene Laverty drafted past on the straight on lap two when disaster struck.

Rusty explained: "I was comfortable just shadowing the leaders and didn't want to make the mistake of leading too early so I held back. Eugene came past me on the straight and he hit the brakes far too early, which meant I ran into the back of him as I still had the throttle pinned back."

"We both crashed into the gravel but whilst his bike was ok to continue, mine was too badly damaged," said a disconsolate Hodgson.

Despite his misfortune, Hodgson held onto seventh place in the series standings after missing out on scoring points in just three races all season.

Hodgson plans to make amend at Croft over the weekend of October 12th and 13th whereby he goes for glory in the final round of the NEMCRC Championships

Results: 1 Chris Martin, 2 Leon Camier, 3 Paul Veazey, 4 Daniel Cooper, 5 John Pearson, 6 Andy Walker, 7 Mick Wilcox, 8 Howie Mainwaring, 9 Sam Owens, 10 Daniel Coutts.
Championship Positions: 1 Martin 289 (champion), 2 Elkin 223, 3 Camier 163, 4 Midge Smart 158, 5 Pearson 133, 6 Guy Farbrother128, 7 Russ Hodgson 88, 8 Wilcox 87, 9 Coutts 83, 10 Walker 78

Picture courtesy of 'Double Red'