Motorcycling: Fogarty slips up in title pursuit
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Your support makes all the difference.COLIN EDWARDS scored a pair of wins, the Texan leading his Honda team to a double one-two finish in the ninth round of the Superbike World Championship at Brands Hatch yesterday. However, the champion, Britain's Carl Fogarty, drew a blank in both races though he is still well placed to win his fourth title.
New Zealand's Aaron Slight finished runner-up in both races on a nightmare day for local hero Fogarty.
Fogarty, well out of contention in the first race, just missed out on a podium finish in the second before a record 125,000 crowd with a fourth place finish. The Blackburn-based rider, who has 330 points in the championship, had started the day with a 49-point advantage over his Ducati team-mate, Troy Corser, and finished it 48 points clear. Edwards is third on 268.
"I had absolutely no grip whatsoever," said Fogarty, who was lapped by Corser on the first lap after a pit stop to change tyres, eventually finishing 19th.
He continued: "I had the same tyre as Colin in the first race, his looked like brand new after he'd won the race, mine fell apart after seven or eight laps and I had to come in. There were pieces missing everywhere.
"In the second race, there was just no grip from start to finish, an absolute waste of time for me. It annoys me that Honda always complain about how our bikes are too good. There's no way - they have more power than us and they can use softer tyres."
Edwards had complained before the weekend that the big red Ducati machines were overly dominant.
Fogarty had started on pole for both races, but in the first Edwards pulled away quickly. The Italian, Pierfrancesco Chili, on the dramatically improved Suzuki, finished third and challenged for the lead in the second race, sandwiched tightly between Edwards and Slight until lap 22 when he went out.
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