Notice the North/South divide here anyone? Foggy is a solid Northern guy who is a winner. Plus he talks straight and is totally entitled to his own opinion.Whether any of us agree with him matters little to that nice cheque from MCN thankyou very much!

As already stated he was a winner no matter how you might try to belittle his achievements....the best bike with a crap rider never won anything!

Obviously some of you have never listened to Bazza when on the Aussie TV? He was never one to pull punches and always talked straight no concern for who it might p*ss off. 8)

He may "have" been a winner, and I appreciate that folk in the North have a reputation for being outspoken (they are no worse than people from anywhere else IMHO) but he is an arrogant and rude individual who should, at times, keep his gob shut in public.

His "Foggy" race team has won sweet FA and until he can get the backing of some decent sponsors to provide him with some decent engines he's not going to either. And if he is "oh so brilliant" it should be easy for him to whip up said sponsorship. Maybe he should realise that by being the loud mouthed self opinionated ass that he is may be the reason he doesn't get such sponsorship...

Just my opinion of course, but as you say Pete, we're all allowed one :wink:

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Foggy?Charming fellow.
Lavilla did race the Kwak ZX-7RR in Foggy's era in WSB...didn't do much if i recall but the Kwak was hardly the best.

Sheene won the premier class twice and Foggy didn't.

Sheene won on tracks that were deathtraps and a bike that was no better.

The Basket...

Cant fully agree with you mate. Bazza won on what proved to be the best factory bike of the time, a death trap by no means. Ok so one seized on him at Daytona but that was an exception. The tracks he rode on were the safest available at the time although I concur that the level of safety lagged way behind what they have now.

Somewhere Foggarty did ride and damn well...was the Isle of Man....Bazza would not have ridden there for a King's ransom mate...he admitted it himself...he often cited his asthma and old injuries being made worse by the damp climate...but love him as I did...that was ballox.

yes Bazza won the 500cc class and was brilliant...but Foggarty won his WSB titles in a very strongly contested era.

Not even Carl's mother would go as far as to call him "charming"!

Jelster...With the Petronas treasure chest behind him do you really think there is such a desperation for a sponsor to be found? 8)

the contract foggy had with petronas was 10mill i think, one of the largest in the paddock according to MCN.

The RG is a deathtrap by modern standards...The tyres wouldn't do justice on a chinese 125.

Sheene wouldn't ride the tt because it is too dangerous...can't argue there..

The tracks were awful...armco even on corners...run off was non-existant...

I would never crit Foggy as a rider...only as a person...

I have a certain sympathy with both sides of the argument: Is Fogarsy a knobber or what?

Some facts to be remembered though:

He won four Superbike World Championships, and the World F1 championship twice, and the FIM F1 World Championship, was World Endurance Champion with Terry Rymer, won at the Island a number of times and set a fastest lap that stood for a while, and raced with some success on the roads in Ireland. He is, (was?) in short, a stupendously talented rider, I cannot possibly understand how anyone could deny this.

He is clearly a somewhat outspoken man, I can sort of understand a certain self possedness, he's more than adequately demonstrated that he knows how this bike racing thing is done and thus a certain respect for his opinion on matters motorcycling is not unreasonable. It is a shame that he seems unwilling to regard anyone else's opinions and capabilities with a similar attitude, and thus it's not altogether surprising that he upsets as many people as he does.

However having read his book, and seeing as he saw fit to publish a book about himself that actually makes him seem a somewhat less than pleasant character, presumably I doubt that he much cares what the world in general thinks of him. FWIW I don't see this as any 'Northern' attitude about him, he's not being 'straight' he's just being rude by not considering the impact of his words. His arrogance is apparent when he has made some of his dafter comments.

I have no problem with him as a rider, just as a human being. It's obvious that money talks, how else could somebody that ugly have a Mrs who looks that good 8)

And if the team has got all that financial backing, how come they can't produce a competitive bike ? It's not the riders, FP have had some cracking racers out there on the track, but the bike just doesn't challenge the big boys... Shame as it's British (well sort of).

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900cc and 3 cylinders! As a compromise between a full blooded twin and a restricted 4 it was never going to work.

I am northern...And proud.
English by birth and Lancashire by God :wink: