Second race from Assen in the 1998 season with Carl Fogarty on the way to victory, while Pierfrancesco Chili crashes just before the finish. Like the Italian, many of Foggy’s opponents failed shortly before the finish line this year.

The first half of the 1999 season – the 12th year of WorldSBK

Last year, Carl Fogarty led exactly twice on his factory Ducati, namely after the opening race and before the final race. In the meantime, riders like rookie Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha World Superbike Team), privateer Troy Corser (Ducati Racing ADVF) and Aaron Slight (Castrol Honda) had the lead in the intermediate championship ranking for a long time. But in the end the Englishman kept his nerve and won the third world title of his career. This made him the first three-time world champion in the history of the Superbike World Championship since its premiere in 1988. Many of his compatriots only called him “King Carl” from now on. He had become an icon of his sport and was hungry for more. In the meantime, the WorldSBK had even outstripped the motorcycle world championship in terms of visitor numbers in some races. It was the golden age of the Superbike World Championship, and it was to last for a few more years.

Three of Carl Fogarty’s most important opponents since 1988 – Colin Edwards, Aaron Slight (both Castrol Honda) and crowd favorite Nori Haga, the Japanese daredevil on the factory Yamaha.

World Championship calendar 1999 – with again 13 rounds

For the first time since 1993, the WorldSBK was held over 13 laps with two races each. At that time, 14 events were planned, but the final planned for Mexico City was canceled without replacement during the course of the season. The tracks were all in a different order in the previous year. New this time was the start of the season in Kyalami (South Africa) and the Hockenheimring, a second German race compared to 1998. Two decades later there was unfortunately not a single one Corona pandemic also put an end to the return from Oschersleben in 2020. In contrast to Phillip Island and especially Sugo and Laguna Seca, the regular drivers had no strong local drivers to fear at the season opener. At least this is the experience from the 1998 season.

The Yamaha factory team with Noriyuki Haga (left) and the Italian Vittoriano Guareschi on the YZF-R7, the new weapon of the Japanese manufacturer in the battle for the WorldSBK. It was a pure racing machine that cost more than twice as much as a Yamaha R1 at the time.

Entry list of the second round of the World Championship in Australia

The season opener in Southern Africa

From position 2 on the grid, number 1 took the lead with Carl Fogarty, followed by Ducati team-mate Troy Corser, who was overtaken by Noriyuki Haga on the Yamaha on the first lap. But the Australian fought his way back to P2, while a little further back Peter Goddard slipped into the gravel bed on his Aprilia. A little later, the two Castrol Honda riders Aaron Slight and Colin Edwards were right behind the Japanese and on lap 8 the New Zealander’s first attack came. The reigning world champion drove towards a sure victory, while behind him Troy Corser was able to keep the Slight behind him in check until the finish. 4th place went to Haga ahead of Edwards, Akira Yanagawa (Kawasaki) and Pierfrancesco Chili, who is new to Suzuki. The Spaniard Gregorio Lavilla (Kawasaki) was eighth ahead of Doriano “Rambo” Romboni (Ducati) and the Austrian Robert Ulm on Kawasaki.

Aerial view of the Kyalami racetrack, which lies between Pretoria and Johannesburg and has also hosted the motorcycle world championship several times.

The second race of South Africa
After the first lap, Honda Ace and Vice World Champion Aaron Slight led ahead of Foggy and Corser, but shortly afterwards the World Champion took the lead. Noriyuki Haga fell in the 14th of 25 laps and in the duel for second place behind the sovereign leader Fogarty, Slight was ahead of Corser this time. Edwards finished fourth ahead of the two Kawasakis from Yanagawa and Lavilla. It was followed by Peter Goddard on Aprilia in front of Chili, Romboni and Katsuaki Fujiwara on Suzuki. This time Robert Ulm was eleventh ahead of Lucio Pedercini (Ducati), Vittoriano Guareschi (Yamaha) and local hero Lance Isaacs (Ducati).

With Troy Corser (left) and the reigning world champion Carl Fogarty, the Ducati works team got off to an excellent start in the 1998 season. With the Aprilia Mille and the Australian Peter Goddard as drivers, a second Italian make was also at the start.

The World Cup continuation down under with the 2nd round

After Foggy had become world champion last year with only 3 wins, he had already made two thirds of this mark after the first of 13 rounds. Of course, he was the first World Cup leader to travel to Australia, where it continued three weeks after Kyalami on the popular route from Phillip Island in the south of Melbourne. The Englishman had already won twice here, while local hero Troy Corser had only one victory. However, unlike Fogarty, he did not compete in the WorldSBK in 1997 because he had tried his hand at the 500cc World Championship after his 1996 WSBK title. A year later, however, the Australian was ruefully back in the near-series World Cup and finished third.

Our photo from the track with the sea in the background, 21 years later at the spectacular WorldSBK kick-off at the end of February 2020. On the right, turn 4, called Honda Corner.

The first race at Phillip Island
After the start, Ducati ace Troy Corser took the lead from the second corner, followed by Colin Edwards, Aaron Slight, Nori Haga and Foggy. In the second of 22 laps, Slight had dropped back to position 5 and Corser had pulled out a distance of about 50 meters. In the 4th deal, Frankie Chili had to give up with a defective fuel pump on his Suzuki GSX-R 750. Fogarty was now on P2 ahead of Slight and Edwards, whom Haga passed on lap 6, who shortly afterwards also conceded the Kiwi. But Slight didn’t give in and fought his way back to P3, while Yanagawa on the Kawasaki had approached from behind.

Edwards had not fallen behind either and so after half of the race there was a lively exchange of blows between the four brawlers. In the end, Corser won with a 3.801 second lead over Foggy and Edwards was a wafer-thin lead at the finish line in the pack of four. Slight was fourth ahead of Yanagawa and Haga, who were less than 3 tenths short of the podium.

World Championship leader Carl Fogarty on the Ducati 996 RS – after finishing second behind his Australian team-mate, the Englishman was anything but dissatisfied.

The second run of Phillip Island
As for the top after the start, it was a copy of the first race. Corser arrived at Honda Corner (Turn 4) as the leader. Behind them, Slight, Haga, Edwards and Foggy scrambled for the chase role. Initially, the Kiwi played this role when he was the only one who was halfway up against the local hero after the first round. Fogarty and Edwards were already around a second behind after the first passage through the finish line. Haga, Goddard, Lavilla and “Rambo” Romboni followed. On lap four Foggy passed Slight and Haga had fought his way past Edwards.

Phillip Island recorded by us on site at the season opener of the Superbike World Championship on March 1, 2020, directly below the track. This course is not without good reason one of the most beautiful and spectacular in the world.

The decision in the second race
Shortly after halfway through the second run, Fogarty stalked Corser and an exciting duel for victory ensued. The landlord could hardly win much less than 5 thousandths. A decision was impossible with the naked eye. Colin Edwards took third place again ahead of teammate Slight and this time there was less than a tenth between him and the fifth Haga. Akira Yanagawa on the best Kawasaki followed with a respectful gap of almost 15 seconds ahead of the three Ducatis of Steve Martin (AUS), Dario Romboni and Craig Connell (AUS). Behind on P10 Katsuaki Fujiwara (Suzuki), the Austrian Andreas Meklau (Ducati) and the two Suzukis from Shawn Giles (AUS) and Pierfrancesco Chili.

Troy Corser (Ducati Performance 996 RS) – the Australian drew level with the three-time winner Anthony Gobert (Kawasaki) with his one-two in his home country.

World Championship Round 3 at Donington Park

After the first corner, Pierfrancesco Chili took the lead on the Alstare Corona (the latter was a beer brand, at least before the corona pandemic) Suzuki. He was followed by Chris Walker on a Kawasaki and World Championship leader Fogarty on a Ducati. In the third round the local hero was already in front. From then on, the world championship leader didn’t let anything go and drove home a sure win. Two laps later, Aaron Slight grabbed Troy Corser, who had been on P3 until then. A little later, Colin Edwards, the second Castrol Honda rider, passed the Australian. Slight was on the runner-up Chili after lap 10 and passed him shortly thereafter.

The Chili Crash and the two profiteers
Halfway through the race, the Italian flew off and Corser suddenly got company from the two Kawasaik drivers Walker and Yanagawa. Now the two Honda riders Slight and Edwards were on course for the podium and afterwards they didn’t let the butter off their bread. In the end, Foggy took his third win of the season ahead of the two Castrol Hondas of the Man from New Zealand and the American. Chris Walker managed to keep his Kawasaki brand colleague Akira Yanagawa behind him to the finish and Troy Corser had to make do with P6 behind him. John Reynolds (Ducati) finished seventh ahead of Steve Hislop (Kawasaki), Sean Emmett (Ducati) and Noriyuki Haga on the best Yamaha.

Winner Carl Fogarty (Ducati) between the two Castrol Honda riders Aaron Slight (left) and Colin Edwards on the podium at Donington Park. With the third victory in the fifth of 26 races of the season and two second places, the reigning world champion was clearly on course for the title.

The second race from Donington Park
This time, after the start, Troy Corser took the lead and behind that Frankie Chili and Carl Fogarty fought over P2. In the first lap, the Australian Peter Goddard flew spectacularly by highsider on the Aprilia RSV 1000. At this point, Corser was clearly in the lead in front of Foggy, while Slight flew off after a near collision with team-mate Edwards, but was able to continue afterwards. The American had a slide in the curve of all places and the Kiwi ran out of road on the outside. Edwards turned around in surprise when he heard it rattle behind him, but of course drove on. Now the Texan began to attack the leading Ducati riders, overtaking them both and distancing Fogarty by 4.213 seconds to the finish. Corser finished third in front of Akira Yanagawa, Chili, Haga, John Reynolds, Doriano Romboni, Steve Hislop and Niall Mackenzie.

Photographed by us while visiting Donington at the WorldSBK race in July 2019. Even twenty years after the golden years of the Superbike World Championship, we saw sensational races on one of the world’s most beautiful courses.
Colin Edwards (Castrol Honda) was new with the number 5, having previously ridden the 45 for years on a Yamaha and later also a Honda. By now the Texan had matured into one of Fogarty’s most serious challengers.

Two weeks later in Albacete with World Championship round 4

After the first almost third, it didn’t look like there would be a close decision in the title fight. The start of the season was too reminiscent of 1995, when Carl Fogarty had won seven of the first 12 races and was never worse than second. This time 6 races had been completed so far, of which the Englishman was able to win 3 and was second three times. Of course, before the Spanish round, he also led the World Cup intermediate rankings. Troy Corser in second was 23 points behind and Colin Edwards in third was already 38.

Before the start of the first race, the warm-up lap started as usual. As he rolled away, a Spaniard with a bare torso and two bullfighting weapons in his hands ran from the starting line through the rolling drivers. Fortunately, the start was then normal and with traffic lights, after which Colin Edwards took the lead in the first corner. After the first lap, however, Noriyuki Haga was leading ahead of Akira Yanagawa, Frankie Chili, Foggy and Edwards. The latter fought his way back to P3 one deal later before he had to coast down with engine problems.

Colin Edwards (Castrol Honda) – For the unlucky person in the first run, the race was over after two laps, which meant that he lost important points to Fogarty and Corser, who were ahead of him in the World Championships.

The Japanese double victory in the 1st race
Halfway through the first run, a leading group had formed, with Haga leading ahead of Yanagawa and Fogarty. But the World Cup leader was soon unable to follow the two Japanese. Towards the end of the race, the battle for victory turned into a duel in which Haga was still ahead. The Yamaha rider left nothing to burn on the brand new YZF-R7 and crossed the finish line with a raised left index finger as the winner. Akira Yanagawa took the first podium for Kawasaki in the 7th race of the season. The reigning world champion followed on his Ducati. The fight for fourth place went to Aaron Slight, wafer-thin ahead of Chili and the local hero Gregorio Lavilla, who is new to Kawasaki. Troy Corser had to be content with P7, ahead of Katsuaki Fujiwara on the best Suzuki, Hagas Yamaha team-mate Vittoriano Guareschi and Peter Goddard on the Aprilia RSV Mille.

Foggy (Ducati) and Frankie Chili – the two had fought many fights together in recent years and often enough the Italian was ahead of the game. But in the 1999 season, the Englishman was usually difficult to defeat.

The second run of Albacete
For the first time, the world championship leader did not finish in at least second place, but a podium was not so bad considering that his closest pursuers had stumbled this time. At least one of them was able to make up for this gap in the second race. This time, Haga, of all people, had the winner of the first run with an engine failure when he had to coast down his Yamaha on lap 11. The battle for victory turned into a head-to-head race, with the American in the lead in the end. The blink of an eye was followed by Yanagawa in front of Fogarty. Lavilla took fourth place just before Chili, followed by Slight, Fujiwara, Guareschi, Goddard and the Austrian Andy Meklau on Ducati.

Akira Yanagawa took the first two podiums of the 1999 season for Kawasaki in Albacete. The Japanese was the Greens’ most successful pilot since Scott Russell and Anthony Gobert and became one of their icons for the Japanese brand.

At the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza for World Cup round 5

Foggy had never won on the track in northern Italy since 1996, while Colin Edwards won a one-two here on the Castrol Honda the previous year. But with the new Ducati 996 RS, this time the Englishman had a weapon that was absolutely on a par with the competition even at top speed. On the other hand, the American’s Honda RVF750 RC45 was getting on for years. So next year he should compete on a completely different bike. On high-speed tracks like the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza with average speeds of around 200 km / h, like at Hockenheim, the current Edwards machine was still one of the fastest in the field.

The first run should bring another heartbeat finale. After the start, Edwards was initially only in 6th place, while the three Ducatis from Fogarty, Corser and Romboni set the tone. The American on the Castrol Honda had dropped back to P7 a short time later, but then he fought his way up place by place. Doriano Romboni, on the other hand, took off spectacularly on the second lap. In the third lap, the double winner from the previous year was already in P3 and went on the hunt for the two leading Ducati works drivers. In the 7th deal it was so far and with local hero Chili in tow Colin Edwards had stalked up.

The start-finish straight in the Royal Park of Monza – a route that claimed a great number of lives before the World Cup races were no longer conceivable due to the lack of urgently required safety measures. The WorldSBK was to stay here for almost 15 years.
Pierfrancesco Chili – new on the Suzuki GSX-R750 in the Alstare Corona (a beer brand before the pandemic) factory team on the road, had already shown some impressive races in Monza.

The final of the first run of Monza
On the start-finish straight, the Castrol Honda rider immediately passed the two factory Ducatis and in the chicane Corser made a mistake that set him back slightly. In the next chicane, the local hero passed the Australian and tried to catch up with the two leaders. On lap 10, Troy Corser made another mistake that set him back significantly. Chili, on the other hand, managed to get close to Foggy and Edwards in the last few laps, and it was a three-way battle for victory. It was the reigning world champion who set the tone in the last lap and was no longer fooled until the finish line and won his 4th race of the season. The Honda driver just behind on P2 and the Italian with the first podium of the season for himself and Suzuki. Corser finished fourth, ahead of Slight, Haga, Yanagawa, Lavilla and Goddard. Andreas Meklau came in 10th ahead of Yamaha works driver Guareschi, Igor Jerman (Kawasaki) and Lucio Pedercini on Ducati.

Carl Fogarty (Ducati) – With his 4th win of the season in the ninth of 26 races in 1999, the Englishman took another step towards defending his title.

The second race in Northern Italy
Foggy also won the second run and had won half of the first 10 races. In all the others he had finished in at least 3rd place, which enabled him to significantly expand his lead in the World Cup interim rankings. Colin Edwards missed the victory by a tiny 5 thousandths and Frankie Chili was also just 0.544 seconds behind the winner. It was followed by Corser, Yanagawa, Haga, Lavilla, Meklau, Fujiwara and Guareschi. Aaron Slight was taken out of the race with a black flag. The Man from New Zealand had shrugged a bit early at the start and then received a stop-and-go penalty, which he then ignored for several laps.

Aaron Slight (Castrol Honda) – after an excellent start in 1999, Colin Edwards’ team-mate was anything but as expected. In the World Cup he was already over 100 points behind Carl Fogarty after Monza and his chances of winning the first title had thus sunk to zero.

The return to the Nürburgring for World Championship round 6

This time, in contrast to the premiere a year ago, the races took place in dry conditions. But the event at the Nürburgring turned out to be a scandalous weekend and the world championship leader also had a small part in it. When Carl Fogarty started to lap, he drove the German private driver Lothar Kraus (Kawasaki) into the motorcycle from the right side, whereupon he fell. As we learned directly from the person concerned, he had deliberately slowed down to let the lead group pass, but no blue flags were waved anywhere before their arrival.

Commentator and marshals not smeared with fame
As it is unfortunately far too often the case, the German-speaking commentator (the name of this layman does not deserve to be mentioned at this point) slipped a lot of unqualified remarks during the TV broadcast when viewing the scene. In addition, the Slovenian Igor Jerman had previously lost oil with his Kawasaki and the marshals failed again across the board. Since they all failed to wave the warning flags in time, a row of drivers flew off, including one after the other Yanagawa, Haga, Chili and Edwards.

Nürburgring-Nordschleife at the 1955 German GP – here the sidecar race. In the 1990s, however, the new route completed in 1984 was already being used. For more about the earlier days of motorcycle racing, see our ever-growing history.

The rating of the scandalous race
Carl Fogarty won safely ahead of Slight, Corser and Lavilla, also because they had to avoid Lothar Kraus, shot down by Foggy and his Kawasaki, and thus lost the connection. Due to the many failures before him, the Australian Peter Goddard achieved his first top five result on the Aprilia RSV 1000 with P5. Behind them, Katsuaki Fujiwara (Suzuki), Vittoriano Guareschi (Yamaha), Andreas Meklau (Ducati), the Swedish veteran Christer Lindholm (Yamaha), the German Jochen Schmid (Kawasaki) and Lucio Pedercini (Ducati) crossed the finish line. Today we can speak of luck, such things rarely happen in racing anymore, or at least not go unpunished. In addition, Foggy was already miles ahead. He could therefore be happy that on this black racing Sunday on June 13, 1999, these incidents did not decide the World Championship.

Gregorio Lavilla (Kawasaki) – the Spaniard achieved his best result of the season in fourth place in the scandalous race at the Nürburgring. Later he was to be responsible for the WSBK at the marketing owner company Dorna.

The second run on the Eifel
After finishing fourth in the first race, the Spaniard Lavilla overtook the defective witch on his Kawasaki, and this in the fourth lap of all places. In many Asian countries, this number is considered an unlucky number. Foggy as the bully of the day was punished by the racing gods (if they really exist) with 15th place in the second race and only one championship point. The victory went to his Ducati works team colleague Troy Corser, but only a tenth ahead of Aaron Slight. Akira Yanagawa took third place ahead of Edwards, Chili, Haga, Fujiwara and Goddard. The German Lothar Kraus, shot down by Fogarty in the first run, was injured and unable to start the second race. Today he runs a tuning company in Östringen, southwest of Sinsheim (BW).

Carl Fogarty (Ducati) – after round 6 of 13 on teammate Troy Corser from Australia, the championship lead was already 45 points and Texan Colin Edwards was already 68 points behind.

The 7th round of the World Championship in Misano

Recorded by us 19 years later at the WorldSBK event in Misano. At that time, it was driven clockwise, while in 1999 the drivers were still driving in the opposite direction for a few years.

Driving upside down
Except for the second round of Scandal Sunday at the Nürburgring, Foggy was on the podium every time before traveling to the Adriatic Sea. At that time, the Autodromo di Santamonica, as it was then still called, was driven in a counterclockwise direction. Of course, countless Tifosi were on the route to cheer on their heroes and brands. In addition to Ducati, Aprilia with the RSV Mille and the Australian Peter Goddard as a factory driver was also there. The mainly local fans on the track should not be disappointed two weeks after the first of 2 laps in Germany (Hockenheim was on the calendar in September) in Misano on June 27, 1999.

Carl Fogarty was on pole position, but the Ducati rider only turned fifth into the first corner. In the third round the world championship leader was already on position 3 and a little later he was second on the pursuer of quick starter Troy Corser. The Australian team-mate and 1996 World Champion on a private Ducati for Power Horse soon got company from behind. At half of the race Foggy was the leader and Corser followed with a respectful distance of almost 100 m. But the man from Down Under had not given up yet and fought his way back to the leader. At the finish, the two were separated by a ridiculous 0.126 seconds and the reigning world champion was ahead by a nose. Third place went to Akira Yanagawa on the best Kawasaki. Crowd favorite Pierfrancesco Chili (Suzuki) was fourth ahead of Aaron Slight, Colin Edwards (both Honda) and Gregorio Lavilla (Kawasaki). The top ten were completed by the two Yamaha works riders Nori Haga and Vittoriano Guareschi ahead of Peter Goddard on Aprilia.

Carl Fogarty (Ducati) – after his career (which came to an abrupt end in the following year) he was supposed to make it clear that he had hated all of his opponents at the time and that he rejected a collegial one on principle. He accused later drivers that they were all far too dear and barely had any profile.

The second race in Misano
Foggy also won the second run and the podium became a copy of the noon race. 4th place this time went to Slight in front of Lavilla and a disappointed Chili. Haga fell in the 11th lap and 4 laps before Goddard had already hit the only Aprilia in the field. Edwards had to make do with P7, ahead of Guareschi, Katsuaki Fujiwara (Suzuki) and the German Robert Ulm on Kawasaki. The championship lead from Fogarty to Edwards was already 99 points and only Ducati team-mate Corser, with 55, was still halfway within striking distance of the Englishman.

Noriyuki “Nitro Nori” Haga – on the new Yamaha YZF R7, the Japanese was always good for a podium, but he was unable to intervene in the championship fight due to his frequent falls.

The second half of the year: coming soon..

Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© WorldSBK).