RUNAWAY championship leader Neil Hodgson is fearful his World Superbike season is proving a mite too successful.

A self-avowed eternal pessimist, Hodgson goes into the British round at Silverstone on Sunday half-expecting disaster to befall him despite the 29-year-old having racked up nine out of a possible 10 victories so far this season.

Hodgson said: "It's been a fantastic season for me so far and sometimes I catch myself suspecting things have almost gone too well.

"Sometimes I do wonder whether there's bad luck lurking around the corner for me.

"My attitude has always been to expect the worst and then you are never disappointed, are you?

"I always find myself expecting a really hard fight at each round and then if doesn't turn out that way and everything goes a little bit more smoothly then that's a bonus for me.

"But that's not to say I'm not looking forward to being at Silverstone in front of the British fans because although it brings an extra pressure it's a pressure which works well for you, it makes you ride as hard as you possibly can.

"I think the story of the season so far is that any of the top five or six riders in the championship could win on any particular day but the difference so far has been that I've been the most consistent."

The only rider to have put a dent in Hodgson's otherwise perfect season to date has been fellow Briton James Toseland, the HM Plant Ducati ace having beaten his rival by more than seven seconds last time out at Oschersleben.

And Toseland, who trails Burnley's Hodgson by 113 points in the championship standings, is keen to engineer back-to-back victories at the Northamptonshire circuit.

The 22-year-old from Sheffield, whose success in Germany was his inaugural World Superbike triumph, said: "There's a bit more pressure on me now but it won't affect me.

"I'm capable of winning races if things go my way and Silverstone is a fairly level playing field.

"If it stays dry, I've got a chance."