Road Race
Round12: Hockenheim, Germany
WORLDSUPERBIKECHAMPIONSHIP
By Gordon Ritchie
Photos by Gold & Goose
HOCKEi\THElM, GERMANY SEPT. 11
,
or the fou rth time in si x years ,
th e World Sup e rb ike Cha m pio ns hip will go back to Blackburn,
Eng la nd, after a d ay of high drama in
Ge rmany. It w ill go down in the history books that Carl Fogarty won his latest title with a win in the first race, follow ed up by a sec ond place in ra ce
two, but to a ll who witnessed it, h is
ra ce-o~e victory was on pape r on ly and in the mo st liter a l sense. And even
he agr eed.
A massive crash on the last lap, wh en
Igor Jerman and Peter God dard tan gled
at top sp eed , sa w the luckless Sloven ian
rid er lying injured by the trackside, an
incident that right fully bro ug ht ou t the
red flags in du e haste. The problem wa s,
according to both Aaron Slight and Fogarty, the leading duo weren't shown the
red flags at all prior to crossing the finish line and taki ng the check ered flag ,
w hi ch the d ete rm in ed Slig h t had
reached first. Even Fogar ty was su re of
en
en
the resu lt.
en
"A a r o n wo n t h at ra ce fai r a n d
N
squa re," was his ins tant assessment.
'"
Q>
Sligh t was livid, missing the pod ium
.<:l
E ceremo ny and bein g fined 5000 Swiss
Q>
i5. francs in the process.
Q>
"It's been jus t ano ther Aaron Slig h t
en
day in World Superbi ke," Slig h t sa id .
10 " How mu ch wors e ca n thin gs get? I
~
..
(Top) Race-one act ion wi th Carl Fogarty (1) leadin g the Castrol Hondas of Aaro n Slight (111) and Col in Edwards (5). Fogarty crossed the
fi nish line behind Slight, but was awarded the win beca use of a red flag. It was enough to give him his fourth World Superbike title.
(Above) The second race at Hockenheim gets underway with Troy Corser (11) getting the jump ove r Akira Yanagawa (4), Edwards (5), Slight
(111) and Pier-Francesco Chili (7).
