CARL Fogarty heaped praise on his two Foggy Petronas Racing riders after the team's best display at the third round of the World Superbike championship in Misano, Italy.

The four times World Superbike champion and FPR owner watched his former team-mate Troy Corser finish second in the day's first race, with Chris Walker a creditable sixth.

And, although the team did not fare as well in the second race when technical difficulties resulted in Troy finishing seventh and Chris 13th, the results were enough to move Petronas above Honda into second place in the manufacturers' standings.

On a day of unpredictable weather conditions, Troy capitalised on the previous two day's good set-up work on slick Pirelli tyres to pull a healthy lead before being caught on the 15th lap by factory Ducati rider Regis Laconi.

A heavy shower brought an early end to the race to seal FPR's

second podium, following Chris Walker's debut ride to finish third in Valencia.

On a damp track for the afternoon race, both FPR riders went along with the majority of the grid and opted for wet weather tyres in the front and rear.

However, local hero Frankie Chili chose an intermediate rear and, on a drying track, hauled in a massive deficit on Laconi to clinch a thrilling victory.

Corser, after an indifferent start, suffered clutch problems early in that race and was unable to improve on seventh place.

Walker, on a softer compound, suffered problems with grip early in the race, as well as engine over-heating.

Fogarty said: "It has been a fantastic weekend, our best to date, with Troy getting an excellent second place - and almost a win!

"At the start of the year I thought we might be challenging for a rostrum at the end of the season so to have had two in the first three rounds is a credit to the riders and to Petronas.

"The weather was a bit cooler and the conditions damper, so that levels things out and then it is down to the riders.

"And I believe we have two of the best in the championship.

"If it had remained wet all day, who knows, we might even have had a win.

"It was also good to see the old guy Chili still winning races!"

Troy said: "It was hard to believe I was back on the podium after such a long time. The last time was at Imola in 2001! But we have been in the top four pretty much every session here and, if I had got off the line a bit better in the second race, I might have finished a bit further up. This is the best result we have had so far so I am obviously pleased for everyone involved in the project. I was trying so hard to stay in front but the track was getting slippery and I was losing the rear end when I was trying to stay with Laconi, so I had to settle for second. In the second race I had a problem with the clutch on the sighting lap and entry into the corners was difficult as it was oscillating. Then I got tangled up with Sanchini at the start and really just had to ride round and settle for what I had. But this is a positive note on which to move forwards to the next stage of our engine development at Monza."

Chris said: "I am disappointed with the result in the second race as I think we deserved better. I got a great start and was desperate to lead the race but my tyre lost grip after three laps and I was suffering engine difficulties after five laps so there wasn't much more that I could do. But I was happy with sixth place in the first race, although I was praying for it to start raining while Troy was still in the lead so that he could win."

Race two result, Superbike World Championship round three, Misano, Italy: 1 Chili; 2 Laconi +1.484; 3 Martin +32.259; 4 Haga +38.088; 5 Haslam +41.031; 6 Toseland +45.976; 7 Corser (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) +48.557; 8 Pedercini +1:01.446; 9 Pini +1:04.891; 10 Borciani +1:17.110; 11 Sanchini +1:37.339; 12 Vermeulen +1:37.760; 13 Walker (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) +1:44.683; 14 Liverani +1:44.940; 15 Bontempi +one lap

Race one: 1 Laconi (Ducati Fila); 2 Corser (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) +1.944; 3 Chili (PSG-1) +7.459; 4 Haga (Renegade Ducati) +9.728; 5 Vermeulen (Ten Kate Honda) +12.310; 6 Walker (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) +14.130; 7 Martin (DFX) +14.445; 8 Nannelli (Team Pedercini) +36.96-; 9 Bontempi (Zongshen) +37.379; 10 Toseland (Ducati Fila) +37.501; 11 Haslam (Renegade Ducati) +42.064; 12 Clementi (Kawasaki Bertocchi) +54.642; 13 Velini (UnionBike) +1:02.408; 14 Sala (Team Anyway Fidoweb) +1:05.352; 15 Liverani (Caron Dream) 1:05.397; 16 De Matteis (Xerox) +1:05.416