LONDON -- Briton Neil Hodgson won the superbike world championship with five races to spare after finishing second in the opening race at Assen on Sunday.

The 29-year-old Ducati rider needed a fifth-place finish or better to become the second Briton to win the title after four-time champion Carl Fogarty, and looked determined to do it in style when he took an early lead at the Dutch circuit.

He was passed early on by Spaniards Gregorio Lavilla and Ruben Xaus, the latter Hodgson's teammate and the only rider who could have deprived him of the crown.

By the halfway stage of the 16-lap race, Hodgson was back in front but, after a ding-dong battle with Xaus, settled for second place behind the Spaniard and 20 points.

The Lancastrian, who won the first nine races of the season and 11 in total, has 406 points to Xaus's 271 with only 125 up for grabs in the second race at Assen on Sunday and the last two rounds in Italy and France.

Hodgson, who became a father for the first time earlier this week, is expected to follow his two immediate predecessors as superbike champion -- American Colin Edwards and Australian Troy Bayliss -- into the rival MotoGP championship next season.