Neil Hodgson has had a very consistent 2008 AMA Superbike season. He has finished between fourth and sixth in 10 of the 16 races so far this year, but the former Superbike World Champion has done so while being hindered by a constant front-end chatter on his American Honda CBR1000RR. Having exhausted every other tuning option on race weekends and during testing, Hodgson’s team has decided to do something unheard of in the world of factory AMA Superbike teams they are going back to stock equipment this weekend at Road Atlanta. That’s right. When Hodgson took to the track for Friday morning’s first practice, his CBR1000RR was equipped with a stock front end, including streetbike forks (fitted with Öhlins internals), triple clamps, 17.0-inch wheel, brake rotors and brake calipers (fitted with aftermarket pads). Hodgson’s second CBR1000RR remains set up as it left the pre-event test at Road Atlanta, with its Superbike-spec forks, triple clamps, wheel and brakes. Hodgson spent most of Friday on the bike with the stock front end, but he also rode his full-on Superbike. In fact, he crashed (without injury) his Superbike-spec machine in Friday morning’s practice. Hodgson’s teammate Miguel Duhamel is not trying a stock front end on his CBRs because he has not experienced the same level of chatter, according to his Crew Chief Al Ludington. American Honda Team Coordinator Ray Plumb said Hodgson’s crew plans to start with the stock front end equipment and add aftermarket parts, as needed, to improve performance. For instance, in Friday afternoon’s provisional qualifying session they added their usual Nissin racing brake calipers. Plumb added that the team is equipped with all the parts necessary to put together almost any combination of stock and aftermarket parts, including 16.5-inch and 17.0-inch wheels. This situation has resulted in a bit of irony. American Honda has been one of the fiercest opponents of Daytona Motorsports Group/AMA Pro Racing’s 2009 class and rule structure, but the motorcycle Hodgson started the weekend on was set up relatively close to the technical specifications for the 2009 American Superbike class. American Honda team members said this was not their intent.