Is Fogarty talking crap?

[Sid Squid]

Originally Posted by The Basket

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

Good for you

You'll be kind enough, I hope, to tell us what that's got to do with anything.

the engine thing well he needs to start again. nice try tho, from a new bike.

Jelster wrote:

how come they can't produce a competitive bike ?

Steve I think we might be forgetting that Foggy Petronas actually started absolutely from scratch? A winning or even very competitive bike is very hard to produce in what is a relatively short time?

Ignore the fact that Carl is asociated with them..I think it is extremely healthy for the bike world for a new name to be trying to make inroads in to the market of the established factories.

I mean if we jump over to Moto GP.....just look what Suzuki have delivered there up to now and with all of their knowledge,experience and cash?

The Basket..Do you really think tyres and track conditions were any better when Mike Hailwood and Giacomo Agostini were performing their amazing records? Not to mention when George Formby was blatting around the Island!

have you seen the DVD (against all odds) it does show how difficult the whole fp1 project was.

My point is that with a massive budget you can jump the queue (Look at Chelsea - different sport but same idea - just use the cash to buy better performance).

Also, I think the FP team would have more "supporters" if Foggy wasn't such an arogant , IMPO......

.

Fogarty is ok rider but not nice.
I'm not sure what Hailwood and Ago has to do with anything. apart from noting some riders better than foggy.
I say I'm northern because someone mentioned a thing against Foggy because of the north/south divide.

I don't know why anyone would stick up for Foggy...as a rider ok but as a person he ain't.

The Basket wrote:

I'm not sure what Hailwood and Ago has to do with anything.

I will explain....You have harped on about Barry Sheene's performance on what you suggest was a dangerous bike, deadly tracks and tyres that just dont hack it. Well you can only say that in comparison with improved equipment etc and with the benefit of hindsight. In truth any top rider gets the best out of whatever is made available at any time, we cannot do anything about progress. Yet in his day Bazza was using the best equipment available and track safety was far better than earlier years. Therefore I cannot accept your suggestion that his achievements were more valuable than those of Foggy's.

For the record....thus far(and even if their records are eventually broken) Hailwood and Ago stand as the top two riders of all time in motorcycle racing. Ok some would argue that they had the benefit of top factory bikes.....but you still have to get on them and win races.

Foggy I love him cos I know he talks a lot of crap and this at times as suggested is rather ill advised and lacking in diplomacy but he does dare to be different.

BTW I think he won over Michaela with his spooky eyes!

[Sid Squid]

Originally Posted by The Basket

I say I'm northern because someone mentioned a thing against Foggy because of the north/south divide.

Hmmm...take another look.

PH, (ex-pat Northerner), said that he wondered if the antipathy to Fogarty could be attributed to a North/South divide*, the other mention was Jelster saying he didn't condsider Northerners to be more outspoken:

Originally Posted by Jelster

...I appreciate that folk in the North have a reputation for being outspoken (they are no worse than people from anywhere else IMHO)...

Which end of the country has an interest in this? Subject broached by an Arms Length Northerner.

You seem a little defensive...

*He's wrong of course, but He's getting used to that I'm sure.

Foggy as a racer had a good record. If you look who he raced against, they are big players now...Troy Corser, Colin Edwards and Gregorio Lavilla...and he beat 'em.

He is still the last great UK top rider and no one I see will take that off him.
Fair play to build a bike and race with it...doesn't matter if it goes pair shaped...better than typing @rse to a chat forum

There are many good sportsman out there with impressive records who you will never invite round for tea...Doesn't mean they were bad sportsman though.

Barry Sheene still holds the fastest average top speed for a lap around a circuit during a race...if memory serves it's 143mph around Spa. It will never be beaten due to new safety rulings. Now that is worth a free pint or two.

The Basket...But does that not answer your own question? How bad must the kit available to Bazza have been for him to achieve such a bench mark?

Bazza was ace and my hero in my teens and in many ways just like Rossi took the world of motorcycling to a newer and wider audience.