Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

rancesco Chili's impert in ent beh avior t the infamous Assen press conference ad pu t Fogarty in a determined state of ind o C h ili's ou tbu rs t ha d th e sa me ffect on Foga rty as wa ving a red rag in ro n t of a bull: He was d et erm ined to how w ho w as the boss of the Ducat i rmy . It came as litt le su rprise that we ound Fogarty relaxed just one day prior a the big race at Sugo, "I've been in this sit uat io n m an v imes," he sa id wh en asked if he had his erves u nder cont rol. " It was like this in 994 and in 1996. Accor d ing to me , the iggest pressure is on the Honda guy Slight) - he has never wo n, and everyoody ag rees now that he is on the fastest ike. For me it is just anot her race, with nlv thi s sm all differ en ce: If I beat the w o ot he r guys , I will b e cham pio n gain. " A com pletely di fferent story could be ieard fro m his two rival s that same da y. li ght w a s s t ill hopin g fo r th e oth er on da r id ers to gi ve him a h a n d , her eas Co rser tried to mu ster up con fience by tellin g eve rybody tha t he had lan ned to come to Japan leading the ampion ship, an d that his mission was 'u lfi ll ed - eve n th ou gh h is was th e .lim mest of all leads, with only half a oint sepa rating him from Sligh t. .The rest is hi story: Cors er mad e a a ta l s hi fting e r ro r durin g Sund a y orni ng's w armup a nd too k h im self u t of th e rac e w it h se r ious in juries; >l igh t neve r go t th e be st ou t of t he ·tro nges t RC 45 e ve r, s trugg li ng th e entire day w it h handlin g prob lems. ogarty, on the other hand , was simply nstoppa ble. "This has been the most incons isten t ear I have had in the last five yea rs," Fogar ty said prior to the race. "Having said that, I s till ha ve a chance of win ning the cha m pio nship - w hich is most strange. Even though things d idn't look very comfor table at one point in time, I never ga ve up. All of the fas t guys have been inconsistent thi s yea r, wi th on ly Troy (Corser) notching up points everywhere. But I think that th in gs would have been a lot d ifferent if Chili, Slight or me wo uld n' t have had so much bad luck, or if we hadn't messed up ou r tire choices . The fact that Troy almost never got close to a victory allowed us to close up o n him aga in . The points gap ha s never been more than 32 for me, I think. But I had to bring it back to less than 10 for the last race . The season started off well for me with a win in Phillip Island, but from that moment on , it was up and d own the whole ye ar. Albacete was a perfect example of my seaso n: On e race I won , and the other race I could n't do bet ter th an 'n in th . Only fro m Brand s Hatc h onwa rd, things started to fall into place, and in tho se thr ee round s I scored more points than the other gu ys - just in time to ge t a ll fir ed up fo r the fin al round here at Sugo." When asked to recall his best race of the year, Fogarty di dn 't hesita te. "Bra nds Hatch, of course," he repli es. "But I am d isappointe d tha t I didn' t take two victories the re . I d id everything right duri ng the whole weekend, bu t the bike wasn't se t u p righ t. A wrong tire choi ce in the firs t race and rea r-end cha ller in the second race kept me from another double. Sti ll, finish ing second close behind wit h a bike-b ehaving that ba dl y w a s ac tu a lly unbe li e v abl e. I sho uld 've won easily. I was the qu ickest rider out there. In abo ut four corners, the bike was nearl y unri da ble from the cha tter problem . I wo u ld have liked to offer that victory to my fans. It is frighten ing to h ea r 85,000 s ho u t ing yo u r name just befor e the sta rt of the races. The sa me thing goes for Assert, w here a bou t 35,000 British fa ns crossed the channel just for me." If Brands Hatch was the high poin t, then Nu rbu rg ring 'was definitely a t th e other end of the spectru m. "I know that many people say tha t I d on't do well in the rai n - eve n thou gh I go t so me excellent results in those cond ition s las t yea r," Fogarty sa id. "But I d on ' t th ink th at th e rain was the only thing to blam e at the Nurburgring. I had h a d a b ig 'cra s h ju s t befo re t he r a ce there, and so me pr oblem s with my foo t - du e to my crash at Alba cete. The bike was also givi ng me a lot of problems. And w hen you are in pain on the bike, you d on 't feel m uch like p ush in g it to the limi t." Taki ng it to the limit is also the key to a good Su pe rpo le result. An d the new m eth od of qualifyin g is n' t a Fog a rt y favo rite. "That form ula jus t d oesn't work for me, " he s ays. " I hat e to wa it in th e ga rage for an hour and then go out to do an ali-o r-n o thi ng lap. I a lways need a few lap s to get into the groove. An yw ay, yo u can't push 100 per cen t. lf you d o, yo u ta ke an enorm ous ga m b le. On e min or mistake can th row you back from the front ro w to the fou rth ro w on the grid." At th e be ginning of 1997, Fogarty see med to have lost most of his motivation - until a certain John Kocinski started to win races and everybody sai d the American was going to cru ise to a n easy World title. For 1998, Fogarty seemed to find a new sou rce of inspirat ion : working his butt off righ t from the sta rt of the sea so n. Th e fa ct th at he was th e only rider in the Du cat i Per formance tea m was a n ex tra cha lle nge, he claimed at th e beg inn ing of th e year. And even though that si tu a tio n tu rned out to be less comfor table than exp ected by th e halfway stage of the season, Fogarty had reach ed his cruising speed - and ther e was nob od y who was going to stop him. "Actually, I liked th e idea of be ing the only rider in the team, but when we went to circu its where we hadn't been before , that turned ou t to be a bit of a p ro b le m ," Fogarty s a id . " H avi ng a teammate would -ha ve been better in those conditions - especially as the other team hasn't been a help a t al l. With a teammate, you can discus s abo u t gearing and tire choice, and together find the d irection to g o sooner. We gave the o ther team som e in fo rmati on in th e beg inn ing of th e se ason, but nothing came the other way around. Th e problems st arted in Sou th Af rica, wher e I had some problems find ing good gear ing on Frid ay. From the n on, w e wer e on our ow n. Having sa id that , there was never any hostility be tween the t w o tea ms - which is w hy I was ve ry surp rised at Chili 's reac tion at Asse n. But I t h in k th e pr obl em was deeper than tha t." (Foga rty refer s at this poin t to a clause in Chili's cont rac t, assu ring h im of ano ther year in the factory team if he finis hed in the top three in 1998 - a goal which had becom e unat ta in abl e after the Italian cras hed at Assen), Being on hi s ow n didn't, however. . . see m to bother Fogarty too much - especially as th e bike worked a lot bet ter than in 1997. "La s t vea r I stole some race wins, beca use tl;e bike was very hard to ride," the Brit explains. 'This year is a whole lot bet ter, The bike ho lds the line bett er, it reacts smoother when you ge t on or off the gas. The new bike we received at Kyalami was even better, even though it wasn't a big jump forwa rd. But it closed the ga p to the Hond a considera bly . In 'the first part of the seaso n, the RC45 was so mu ch faster. At Monza, for instance, w e k ne w on Su n d a y morning that nobod y was going to stop the Hondas. I cou ld have put m y dad on the Honda an d he would have won the race." But even with the new Ducati, Fogar ty claims that the Honda is the best bike ou t there. "I think this year it is more critical to ge t th e ri ght tire fo r the Ducati," h e exp lained . "If you don't get tha t right, yo u are in for big problems. Before , the Du cati was good on almost any tire - but that's all over now. But we hav e a good base setu p for ever y track we have been on . The one thing we need now is extra top sp eed. Th e Honda is very fast on acceleration and top speed. Or rather, it is not so much th e top speed, but th e tim e it tak es us to ge t ther e. Espec ially in slow co rners - th at ' s w he re w e lose out. I n oticed it th is morning, comi ng out of th e first -gear chica ne a nd th en storming up the long climb towa rds the s tart-and-fin ish straigh t. The Ho nda's edge seems to be low down . If you go into a fas t seco nd-or th ird-gear corner be hind a Ho nda, it's not so mu ch of a problem - if yo u pick up fast. But exiting from slow corners , th e Ho nda p ulls away fro m fi rst un fil thi rd or fo u r th gear. Once yo u get ther e, you can kee p up with the m - at leas t, if yo u ha ven't lost control ge tting there. There used to be a time tha t people said that certai n tracks we re bet ter for a tw in, and other circui ts were bett er for a four cylinder. Even thou gh I have always had m y do ubts abo u t tha t, things are d efin itely not clea r-c ut a ny more. Ma ybe th e Ducati is still a bit better on a twistv track like Albacete, w here there are a l~t o f co rne rs. Be fore , the Duca ti s a lso seemed to be be tter on bumpy tracks, because the Hondas ju st co uld n' t ho ld the line on the bumps. But the last couple of years, all of the circuits have been resurfaced, which makes the com petition even stiffer. But when all is sa id and done, I think it still comes down to the rider in World Superbike racing. Look at my results at Brands Hatch and Assen for the last couple of years. I have won both races on a Honda and on a Ducati. If you have a good setup and a good bike, you ar e in for a win ." Just the same, it is very unlikely that we will find Foga rty aboard another bike in 1999. "The las t couple of ye ars, I've said each time th at th is was my last year," he said. "I toyed with the id ea also in th e b e ginnin g of thi s seaso n . But Da vid e (Ta rdozzi) w an ts to con ti n ue w orkin g with m e , Duca t i h a v e al s o mad e me an offer a nd, on top of that , I' ve a lways been treated w ell by th e Ita lian s. So w hv move? It is not abou t the monev - I fe"el I can still win another title on a Ducati. But one day, I will stop racing - but don ' t ask me w ha t I'll be doin g then. I'll probab ly ta ke one year off, a nd t hen maybe go ca r r a cin g . The re a re a few tea ms who h a v e alrea dy told me that they are int ere sted in en tering me in th e Briti sh To uri ng Ca r Cha m pions hip . But ask m e again same time next year. Now I' ll go back to Engl an d for a couple of weeks, spend so me tim e out in th e coun trv w ith mv mates, my wife and my child ren, work on th e hors es, a nd' tak e the dogs for a w alk. I cou ld n' t ge t any furth er from .racing . Just be sure that I will be ba ck again next year..." As the World Superbike Champ ion, 0 no less. 21

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