As round six of the 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship races onto the horizon, who better to catch up with than one of Great Britain’s greatest sportsman and the second most successful WorldSBK rider of all-time, Carl Fogarty. After talking all things related to the second factory Ducati seat for 2024 in part one, ‘King Carl’ turns his attention to other topics, such as Toprak Razgatlioglu’s (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) move to BMW, the future of current BMW star Scott Redding and the potential mindset of Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), and how Fogarty himself experienced something similar 25 years ago.
“HE’LL WIN RACES… SCOTT HASN’T SET THE WORLD ON FIRE” – BMW’s 2024
Talking about the BMW move for Razgatlioglu and what that means for current rider Scott Redding, Fogarty was excited about one of the biggest transfers in WorldSBK history: “It’s a bit of a shock in some ways. BMW are a big manufacturer and their bike is decent, and with the riders they have on the bike now, I’m not sure if the package is working or not. We’ll find out next year with Toprak! It’s really something to look forward to as he’s a great talent. We’ll see what he can do. BMW want to win races and Scott hasn’t set the world on fire on it; watch this space! I think he’ll make it work and do well, win races… he will have seen it at various points and maybe thought about it a bit.
“Redding was a top three guy on the Ducati, and he’s struggled at BMW, but we’ll find out when Toprak gets on it as he’s world-class. I’m not sure what Scott’s options are; I’d probably stay at BMW to try and make it work. A satellite Ducati could be an option for him. His results haven’t been great, and he seems to have a lot to say for himself, so we’ll see.”
“HE’S STILL MOTIVATED TO WIN” – are Rea’s struggles temporary?
Speaking about the tricky start to 2023 for Jonathan Rea, Fogarty spoke about how the #65 will be feeling: “He still has his heart in it and he’s still motivated to win. There are faster guys now with better packages, but it’s difficult for him. Maybe Kawasaki will improve their bike a little bit next year. Let’s see where’s he at next year in terms of his results.
“Kawasaki could do with a new bike as that one’s been out for a long time. It was so dominant and so much better than anyone else’s, similar to Alvaro and Ducati now, from 2013 onwards. It was an incredible Superbike. The others have caught up and it hasn’t changed enough; it’d be nice to see them bring a new model out.”
“I WAS LOSING MY MOTIVATION… I HAD STRONG WORDS SPOKEN TO ME” – the 1998 comeback
Talking about a situation similar to Rea’s this year, Fogarty cast his mind back to his third title season in 1998, where he was as low as sixth at one point before turning it all around: “In 1998, I was losing my motivation and blaming the bike and one thing and another. Results weren’t great and my heart wasn’t in it, and I think my head was halfway up my arse to be honest. I changed it around in the last few rounds, as everyone else was inconsistent. I had some strong words spoken to me by Davide Tardozzi at Laguna Seca and he said, “You can do this. If you don’t want to race, let us know and stop wasting our time. Go and retire and stay at home, but it’s down to you, so stop complaining about the bike”, and I thought ‘oof, that’s the first time anyone’s kind of said anything like that to me before’ and it fired me up for the last few rounds of the Championship.
“I got my head together and proved everyone wrong and myself right, by showing I could still do it. I did lose my way in the summertime of 1998, but I turned it round and won the title by a couple of points at Sugo. For 1999, my mojo was back, I was in the same team with the same bike and I was buzzing. I got a double win at Kyalami in the opening round, I hadn’t had a double win for three years!”
LOWES TWINS TOGETHER IN 2024? “I’ve wanted to see that for years!”
After Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) confirmed that his twin brother, Moto2™ star Sam Lowes, was actively looking for a ride in WorldSBK, Fogarty reacted to the news with excitement, saying: “It’d be great! I’ve wanted to see that for years, the two boys together! I’d love to see Sam in WorldSBK and it’d be great to see both of them going head-to-head. I don’t know who’d come out on top! I’d probably go with Alex as he’s got more WorldSBK experience, but it wouldn’t surprise to see Sam ahead either!”
“TOPRAK WILL BE STRONG, SO WILL JONNY” – Donington Park predictions
Fogarty’s last win in the UK came at Donington Park in 1999, so it was only right that to conclude, we put the four-time World Champion under the spotlight for his thoughts ahead of the sixth round: “Donington Park isn’t a speed circuit, it’s a riders’ circuit. Toprak will be very strong and so will Jonny. For me, it’s my favourite circuit to ride in Great Britain but it was one year good and then one year bad! My favourite memory of the place was 1995, when I did the double-double – double at Donington Park and also Brands Hatch later in the year! After that, it was just single wins.”
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Source: WorldSBK.com