Salvage had been Neil Hodgson's buzzword all weekend here and his return to the World Superbike stage proved to be something of a rescue operation. After eight minutes of the first race, Hodgson was rescuing his Ducati 996 from the gravel at a corner of the Valencia circuit named after legendary Spanish rider, Angel Nieto His reaction was anything but cherubic. Several hours later, he had recovered his reputation and season's expectations with a fifth-placed finish in the second race, chiselled out of reserves of endurance and a conviction that he can fill the void in British racing left by the retirement of Carl Fogarty. "It was really hard after the first race, because I wanted to come away with something," Hodgson said "So I didn't ride at 100 per cent for the second. The priority was to stay on and get some points."Ideally, we should have been walking away with two fifth-placed finishes and no major cock-ups But I just lost the front end. I wasn't braking and I wasn't accelerating - I just went in like I thought I had done any other lap. So there was nobody more surprised than I was."That Hodgson would struggle in Spain was no great surprise, as this was not the opening venue he would have chosen.

Having performed poorly in winter testing at this circuit, his results from two days of qualifying did not augur well for the races themselves.By Friday he was talking of a "salvage weekend" when to take any positives away from the tight and testing Ricardo Tormo circuit would have been a bonus. So the 11 championship points gained will not be as great a source of comfort as the fact that, in that second race, he was able to settle into a rhythm that will serve him well at the faster tracks of the 13-round series. Riding within his limit, however, Hodgson was unable and unwilling to attempt make an impression on the reigning world champion Colin Edwards, who also struggled with bike set-up throughout a weekend of changeable weather."We have to take something positive out of it, because we have struggled here all weekend After we tested here, I knew I hated the track. This was always going to be my weakest round," he added.Conversely, Troy Corser's two emphatic wins raised few eyebrows. The Australian former world champion has undergone a winter overhaul of physique and attitude, shedding excess pounds and the laid-back tag that has tainted his recent efforts.

Having secured the lead early on in both races, the only threat to his superiority came from a wayward back-marker, Johann Wolfsteiner, who ignored a blue flag while being lapped and almost robbed the Aprilia rider of an opening victory on the final lap.The performance of Jamie Toseland, mirrored that of his GSE Racing team-mate, Hodgson. Having also crashed on the fifth lap of the first race, he recovered to take a creditable ninth place in the afternoon.. The British driver Richard Burns complained that the Rally of Portugal had not been a fair race following his fourth-place finish here yesterday. The British driver Richard Burns complained that the Rally of Portugal had not been a fair race following his fourth-place finish here yesterday. The four-times world champion Tommi Makinen took first place in a Mitsubishi.