Carl Fogarty

Carl George Fogarty (born 1 July 1965), often known as Foggy, is an English former motorcycle racer and one of the most successful World Superbike racers of all time.

He also holds the second highest number of race wins at 59.

He is the son of former motorcycle racer George Fogarty.

His Isle of Man achievements started in the mid-1980s.

He won the 1985 Lightweight Newcomers event at the Manx Grand Prix and went on to win three TT races.

Early in his career he won the Formula One World Championship for bikes, which was gradually fading after the 1988 commencement of the World Superbike Championship.

Fogarty won it three times, from 1988 to 1990.

First was the 1989 production 750 race followed by the Formula 1 and Senior events in 1990.

In 1990 it dropped below the six races required for the FIM to class it as a championship, rather than merely a cup; again, he won it.

He made several starts in Moto GP, filling in for Pierfrancesco Chili on an ROC bike for a while in 1990, with a best finish of sixth at the Swedish Grand Prix.

He also contested the 500cc British Grand Prix several times.

The team pulled out in 1992, and Fogarty nearly found himself without a ride after a promised deal failed to materialise.

He did ultimately take his first WSBK win at Donington Park, and finished the championship ninth overall despite only completing a partial season.

The season was the beginning of his era as a factory Ducati rider.

He made a total of 26 Isle of Man TT starts, breaking the lap record in 1992.

In 1992 he ran sixth before crashing on oil.

Fogarty was renowned for his high corner speed riding style, combined with an aggressive competitiveness, which brought him 59 victories and four World Superbike Championships (1994, 1995, 1998 and 1999).

His greatest success came with the factory Ducati team.

His first victory in any form of racing at Brands Hatch did not come until 1995.

He had much greater success at Assen, winning all but one race there between 1995 and.

He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1998 New Year Honours.

Winning six of the first eight races in helped him seal that title with 5 of the 24 races to spare, and he clinched it with three races remaining in 1999.

In he raced for Tuxworth again, now with Honda factory support.

Despite winning four races that season on the RC45, three more than team-mate Slight, and one more than Slight had managed over three seasons on the bike, Fogarty again struggled with consistency and finished fourth overall, 16 points behind second placed Slight and 38 points behind champion Troy Corser.

In he returned to Ducati, finishing second overall to the Honda of John Kocinski.

The season was his closest title – after a disappointing weekend at the Nürburgring he lay just sixth in the standings, but fought back to overhaul Corser and Slight in the final round.

This was especially notable as his team (Ducati Performance), managed by Davide Tardozzi, was in its first year of WSBK competition.

His lap at 18 minutes, 18.8 seconds (123.61 mph) on a Yamaha 750 cc was not broken until seven years later by Jim Moodie from a standing start riding a Honda RC45 in 1999, taking the record to 124.45 mph.

He retired in 2000.

Fogarty helped to develop the Petronas FP1 racing motorcycle in the early 2000s.

Fogarty was forced to retire from racing in 2000 after a racing incident at Phillip Island when he hit privateer Ducati rider Robert Ulm and crashed.

He suffered multiple injuries, including a serious shoulder injury which failed to heal well-enough to allow him to race again.

He was replaced in the factory Ducati team by Troy Bayliss.

In 2011, Fogarty was named a FIM Legend for his motorcycling achievements.

He battled with Scott Russell for the title, winning 11 races to the American's five, but losing out on consistency (Russell came 2nd twelve times compared to Fogarty's two) to finish behind him.

In, two factors came together to build on the successes of the previous season.

Fogarty was fit and hungry for the title, having been so close the previous season; but he would also be using the new Ducati 916.

He missed the Hockenheim races with a broken wrist, but fought back to beat Russell and Aaron Slight to the crown.

He won the 14th series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2014 and was crowned 'King of the Jungle'.

In, he raced for Neil Tuxworth's Honda UK team in World Superbikes, finishing seventh overall.