The GOAT of WorldSBK has known Jonathan Rea and his family for years, having shared paddocks and racing lines with his father in his days of competition on the roads and circuits of Britain and Ireland.
Now a much more measured and relaxed person than he ever was when he was racing for his own world titles, Fogarty denies that he is looking nervously over his shoulder as Rea starts lining himself up to be the best WorldSBK racer ever. Rea has even done something Fogarty could not do, and scored three titles in succession.
That’s just fine by Fogarty, as he said after Rea became the ‘tripla’ World Champion. “I think I am quite mellow these days,” laughed Foggy. “I think people want me to say that I am pissed off that he’s won three-in-a-row – but I couldn’t actually be happier!”
What us different for Rea compared to Foggy is the relative focus that shines on World Superbike. In Foggy’s day Britain was ‘Superbike Island’. WorldSBK is by no means as well-publicised and all-pervading in the media as it was in the 1990s.
“In an era when Superbikes was huge I guess it got a lot more publicity than it does now, and bigger crowds, but Jonathan can’t help that,” said Fogarty. “That is not Jonathan’s fault. He has to go out to beat the people he is up against. The championship does not have the prestige it once did because of MotoGP. It was the biggest four-stroke championship in the world back then but nowadays it is the second biggest, because of MotoGP. But that is not Jonathan’s problem, and he will go down as one the best Superbike riders of all time. He is the best of his generation, no question about that.”
Fogarty missed his chances to go and race in MotoGP, and regretted it immediately after he was forced to retire from the sport in 2000. With rumour and gossip asking about Rea’s future, even if only after his Kawasaki contract in WorldSBK expires after 2018, is MotoGP realistic for Rea, in Fogarty’s eyes?
“He is in his thirties now, not that that is old. I could have gone to MotoGP on one of these privateer Yamaha teams, talked to Lucky Strike Suzuki with Garry Taylor, obviously the Kenny Roberts thing was probably the closest thing in 1996 and 1997, but it didn’t happen. It didn’t seem to matter at that time as Superbikes was so big.”
Fogarty is not sure there will be an opportunity worth taking for Rea, despite the fact he rates him so highly.
“MotoGP for him is a difficult one,” said Fogarty. “You can almost leave it too late. People say do I really regret not going there at the time, but as I look back now it would have been good to have got a couple of years on that Marlboro Yamaha.”
Fogarty had some promising one-off or substitute GP rides, including a fourth place at Donington in 1993 that should have been a podium had he not started to run out of fuel, on a hastily prepared Cagiva, near the end of the race.
He thinks that he would have been competitive in MotoGP if he had made the switch at the right time and that Rea could be strong in the current era as well – but only in exactly the right circumstances. “I would have been up there challenging and won some races, no question of that in my mind, but whether I would have won the world championship or not I really don’t know,” said Fogarty. “It would be ignorant of me now to say that I would have beaten Doohan. I might not have done that and we will never know. But I would have certainly been up there or thereabouts, picking up race wins. But that did not happen and it is something I have to live with, and I can live with it now, as it was so long ago. With Jonathan, if there is a package there for a minimum of two years, a factory Honda, Ducati or Yamaha, then I would say do it. He is Britain’s best rider. People might say it is Cal Crutchlow – and I am a massive fan of Cal. He ticks a lot of the boxes but Jonathan ticks them all for me. The best motorcyle racer that we have in this country right now is Jonathan Rea – the fact that he is in World Superbike is totally irrelevant.
“But I think the (MotoGP) package will not be there for Jonathan now. But I would say to Jonathan to go if the package is right, and that has to be a factory, Ducati, Yamaha or Honda. Then he could run up front. Otherwise, it is pointless going. Finishing eighth, ninth or tenth and being paid a load of money would not be of any interest. It is not something I would ever do. Some people like doing that for three, four or five years in MotoGP… great, good luck to you!”
By Gordon Ritchie
