THE Blackburn motorcycle company backed by former World Superbike champion Carl Fogarty crashed with debts of £10million, it has been revealed.

Carl's wife, Michaela, was among the investors who lost out when Shadsworth-based CCM Motorcycles closed down earlier this month with the loss of 50 jobs.

At a creditors' meeting in Manchester, the company was officially placed into voluntary liquidation and investors have been warned they will be unlikely to recover much of their money. Accountants BDO Stoy Hayward was brought in after CCM managing director Carl Warton closed down the company's factory, blaming intense foreign competition and a failure to raise further funding.

The man leading the BDO team, Paul Keely, held out little hope that the manufacturing side of the business could be sold as a going concern.

He said: "The estimated deficiency at CCM is £10million and in view of the high level of losses, it is highly unlikely we will be able to sell the business. We are trying to sell the remaining goodwill and assets of the business, and we have had approaches for the parts side of the business."

Mr Keely said most of the £10million of debts was owed to venture capital funds and other investors.

CCM was established in Bolton in 1971 and moved to Blackburn in the late 1970s. The company built its reputation for building tough off-road competition bikes for motocross and trail riding.

It won the manufacturer's prize in the 1999 Paris-Dakar Rally, the world's most testing race, and was the only company with a 100 per cent team finish. Four-times Superbike champion Carl Fogarty had three CCM bikes and his wife bought a share of the business in 2000.

CCM, however, has been dogged by finanical difficulties. In February last year, it announced it was shifting production to Merseyside after it received a £1.45million investment boost from the Merseyside Special Investment Fund as part of a £4million refinancing package. The company, which at the time slammed the lack of support for manufacturing in East Lancashire, never actually moved from its base at Shadsworth Industrial Estate.

A spokesman for the MSIF confirmed it had invested £1.45million in CCM, alongside a £1.85million investment from Aberdeen Murray Johnson, a grant from the North West Development Agency and the directors' own investment.

"We are sympathetic to all those affected by the outcome of CCM, but the very nature of our business is to take risks. Many of the businesses we support become very successful, but it is inevitable that some will fail," he said.