Ducati Sporting Club UK > Sport > Race > Hodgson not riding for Foggy then ..?!!!

[Nattyboy]

Hodgson: I’ll never ride for Fogarty
By Telegraph newsdesk

NO CHANCE: Neil Hodgson (right) says he would never team up with bitter rival Carl Fogarty

SUPERBIKE ace Neil Hodgson has snubbed Carl Fogarty - and wrecked plans for an all-British dream team - by insisting he will never ride for his arch rival.

Fogarty, the team boss of Foggy Petronas Racing, had identified Hodgson as the man he wanted to race for him in 2007, when he will look to front a new race team in the World Superbike Series.

But Hodgson has scuppered those plans by telling Foggy to forget any thoughts of teaming up as he's still angry with the Blackburn bullet following comments he made about him earlier this year.

Asked if he would ride for Foggy in WSB next year, Hodgson, who is currently competing in the American Superbike championship, replied curtly: "No. He retired and then when I started doing well he started to **** me off, which I found very offensive. So, no!"

continued...
Fogarty and Hodgson have worked together in the past; the pair were team-mates for a season when they rode for Ducati Corse in 1997.

Since then, however, the two former World Champions have become increasingly bitter rivals, which has led to several public spats in the media.

Foggy, in fact, has been one of Hodgson's staunchest critics down the years, at one point even claiming the Burnley-born rider had it easy when he became World Superbike champion in 2003.

It was something of a surprise, then, when Foggy said in an interview earlier this year that he wanted Hodgson to ride for him next year.

Now, any hopes of an all-British dream ticket seem doomed to failure, with Hodgson likely to make a WSB return on a Japanese four-cylinder ride next season instead.

In the meantime, Foggy is still trying to strike a factory bike deal with Ducati for next season but, as yet, nothing has materialised.

7:00pm Saturday 12th August 2006

[Felix]

Well, he first needs to find some serious cash and bikes before he needs to worry about riders!

[doogalman]

I hope he gets it together. shame for such a pro set-up to drop out of the limelight. Foggy could build a very competitive team if the money gets sorted.

[Felix]

Can't agree with that. He's had loads and loads of money for years now from Petronas. I am amazed they didn't pull the plug sooner. It's not often that this little gets achieved with so much money. He continues to blame everyone but himself.

[doogalman]

Foggy's team were unable to take the engine out to 1000cc, because the rules were changed and no concesions were made for triples. Used to be 750 four , 900 triple, 1000twins. I think considering they were at a 100cc disadvantage they have done bl--dy well. As for the sale of the road bikes, they worked the system sadly the road bikes were outdated by the rule change as the race bike was . The amount of money spent, well thats the sponsors buisness, they wanted their own bike not a Yamaskkoozi. Look at the qualifing time and you will see the bike was quick year on year often equalling the previous top pole times . Wether you like foggy or not at least he is running a world class team trying to take on the world. Nothing wrong with that. See how many other former british world chapions you can name that have done the same. And remember he was effectivly 8 times world champion himself, not 4 as acknowledged.

[MJS]

Originally Posted by doogalman

Foggy's team were unable to take the engine out to 1000cc, because the rules were changed and no concesions were made for triples. Used to be 750 four , 900 triple, 1000twins. I think considering they were at a 100cc disadvantage they have done bl--dy well. As for the sale of the road bikes, they worked the system sadly the road bikes were outdated by the rule change as the race bike was . The amount of money spent, well thats the sponsors buisness, they wanted their own bike not a Yamaskkoozi. Look at the qualifing time and you will see the bike was quick year on year often equalling the previous top pole times . Wether you like foggy or not at least he is running a world class team trying to take on the world. Nothing wrong with that. See how many other former british world chapions you can name that have done the same. And remember he was effectivly 8 times world champion himself, not 4 as acknowledged.

Interesting point there, never really noticed the fact that the rules didn't get changed to allow triples to run 1000cc, or were they? Can't help but be surprised that Foggy didn't moan and moan about being at 100cc disadvantage... or maybe he did and I'd already switched off..

[doogalman]

No manufacturer is able to enlarge the engine capacity. Would have faciltated building an entire new homolgation run. Not worth it for foggy as too many problems with the original batch, Shame it didn't work out for the venture as the road version is a cracking piece of kit (if you ever see one). Foggy has been fighting the flamini group for the last 2 or 3 years. I'd love to see him get a foothold in MotoGP, just comes down to sponsors which is a shame when you see footballers exchanging hands for 30 plus million. With that sort of money they would be right up there.

[twpd]

I agree with Doogalman. Whatever people may think about Foggy and his team, he was stitched up by the rule changes. If he was as useless as people like to make out then Petronas would have pulled the plug ages ago - they didn't.

[doogalman]

I think his team set up could easily succeed big time given the sponsors dosh.
If the bike had been allowed to go to 1000cc would he of upset some other manufacturers? Maybe.

[twpd]

Perhaps. We'll never know. For sure, if he'd publicly moaned about the rules everyone would have written him off as a moaner with sour grapes so, he was screwed either way. Whatever amounts of money were thrown at the project, people here just don't understand that you cannot simply change direction and build a different motor. If FP could have done that then they would have. They were stuck with an obsolete bike from quite early on and no amount of canvassing would make any difference unless they could get the support of the Jap factories....and that clearly would never happen.