THIS is a big week for Burnley born Neil Hodgson as he prepares to take the World Superbike championship in Holland and get used to becoming a dad for the first time.

Although the championship may mark the pinnacle of Neil's career his rise to stardom has not been an overnight one.

Chief reporter MICHELLE FIDDLER and reporter NICK EVANS spoke to Neil and his parents Mark and Maureen to get an insight into the early years in the Hodgson household and how an injury at 15 years of age nearly ended his biking career...

EVERY night when Neil Hodgson returned home from school he would eat his tea before heading off with brother Karl to the golf course next to his house for a sneaky round.

Sport of any kind was the love of young Neil's life according to mum Maureen who said her son displayed a talent for whatever activity he turned his hand to.

And although bikes may have become his chosen field the young Neil, a pupil of St John Fisher and Thomas More High School, Colne, showed promise in a whole range of sports from running to football.

Maureen, 49, who works at B Print in Accrington, said: "Neil did not like school one little bit, in fact he couldn't wait to leave.

"One thing he was good at though was sport and whatever he tried he seemed to do really well. He ran cross-country for Lancashire, but although he was a good standard he didn't enjoy it and his heart really wasn't in it. I do think if he had chosen to do something other than biking he would have succeeded.

"Neil got on very well with his brother and they were like best friends.

"I remember when we used to live in Harle Syke next to the golf course they would both go off after their tea and have a round of golf.

"Racing was a big part of his life from an early age and he would help his dad in the garage with the bikes and then go off racing himself when he was a bit older.

"I can't take any credit for his love of biking. I think that's down to his dad."

Dad Mark, 50, now managing director of a Burnley plating firm, rode bikes competitively until the 1980s. He said both his sons had taken an early interest in motorbikes, an interest he had done his best to encourage.

Both Mark and Maureen, who moved from their detached house in Tiverton Drive, Harle Syke, and now live in a farmhouse in Burnley, where Neil lived for a number of years before moving to the Isle of Man, have followed their son across the world, travelling to a number of different meetings.

Mark even combined this year's meeting in America with an extended holiday to celebrate his 50th birthday.

Neil began riding bikes when he was five and raced in moto-cross from when he was nine until he was 15.

Neil said: "For dad riding motorbikes was always in his blood.

"Mum loved it as well but has always said to me that if I am happy she is happy too. As long as I am safe, that has always been her number one priority. Because it has been my life it has been her life as well."

Neil broke his leg quite badly at the age of 15 and began to lose interest in motorbikes.

He said: "I wasn't enjoying it that much. It got to the end of the year and my dad asked me why didn't I have a go at road racing. At that age I was quite skinny and that suited me better.

"He bought a bike and I rode it that week and found it easy. It took me two or three years doing moto-cross to win anything, but with road racing it only took two or three races. It reignited the fun and the passion."

Dad Mark said: "I remember we bought Karl a motorbike for his 6th birthday and everything started from there. Neil took an interest and started to get involved in schoolboy moto-cross and then road racing."

Throughout the 1990s Neil progressed and won the British 125 road racing championship in 1992. He began competing in the World Superbikes in 1996 but his career did not immediately take off. However, Mark said it was his son's determination which had helped him reach his current peak.

He added: "Neil always claims, with tongue in cheek, that I pushed him into the biking, but I don't agree with that. I have always supported him, of course, in whatever he has done and I'm immensely proud of what he has achieved, but it is his determination which has got him there. If he hadn't wanted to do it then I'm sure he wouldn't.

"I really wanted Neil to stay in moto-cross but he wanted to try road racing and it seems to have been a very successful switch. That I think is down to his determination to achieve something and a commitment which has never waned."