Hodgson: Things look promising for next year.

It's been a difficult debut MotoGP season so far for World Superbike champion Neil Hodgson, but the Isle of Man-based Lancastrian - who will complete his first ever laps of the Estoril circuit in this weekend's Portuguese Grand Prix - believes 'things are getting better all the time'.

With the majority of the MotoGP field using new for 2004 machines - and continuously developing ever better parts - Hodgson and D'Antin Ducati team-mate Ruben Xaus have been hampered by running year old machinery.

On paper, Xaus has had the upper hand with a best finish of fifth in the six-lap sprint that decided the Italian Grand Prix and two further top 10 finishes. Meanwhile, Hodgson only has two ten finishes to his credit. However, Neil had charged up to seventh in the wet Spanish Grand Prix, only for the first of several mechanical failures, and has beaten Xaus in the past two GPs.

Earlier this year, Neil told Crash.net that the poor performance of the 2004 Ducati had directly affected the D'Antin team's hopes, because the extra work needed to make the GP4 competitive came at the expense of Ducati's planned development of his 'satellite' spec machine.

Hodgson has since gone on record to say he'd be top ten at every race if he had the GP4 and a twin-pulse engine, but neither he nor Xaus is likely to get such a chance in 2004.

And so Hodgson has six remaining races to convince the MotoGP team bosses that he belongs in the premier-class next season - a task made harder after he was taken down by Max Biaggi during practice for the Czech Republic Grand Prix, re-injuring his ribs, but the #50 is in confident mood.

"I've got a bit of momentum going with the results at Donington and Brno and my injured rib feels better," he said. "Don't get me wrong I want to improve on those tenth and 11th places in the last two races, but things are getting better all the time.

"There are six more races in a pretty short space of time and I aim to keep my head down with some more points scoring rides. Things look promising for next year," Neil added.

Hodgson has been linked with a return to the World Superbike championship next season, but that is seen by many as a last resort for the former factory Ducati Superbike rider.