CARL Fogarty fought back from brake problems to snatch second place on the final bend in race two at Monza to close the gap in the 1998 Superbike Championship.

Fogarty edged out Troy Corser as the Australian ran wide and into the gravel on the final corner to grab second spot behind Colin Edwards to close the gap on championship leader Noriyuki Haga to eight points.

Burnley's Kawasaki star Neil Hodgson produced his best performance of the season so far, just missing out on a place on the podium, to claim a superb fourth place finish in race one.

But Fogarty suffered problems with the brakes on his Ducati just four laps into the first race as he trailed in a disappointing sixth.

Edwards took the chequered flag from Castrol Honda team-mate Aaron Slight after the pair had pulled away from a group of six riders.

The American took the lead from Slight on the fourth lap and held off a late challenge from the New Zealander to win by 0.083 seconds.

The duo looked set to battle out the second race until Slight suffered an engine failure at the start of the last lap, allowing Fogarty to take full advantage ahead of Corser. "The best we could have really hoped for was two third places because the Hondas and Kawasakis were so fast," said Fogarty. "I was disappointed with the first race but I had brake problems on the fourth lap so I couldn't go past anyone because I couldn't out-brake them.

"But I was pleased to fight back in the second race and I've managed to close the gap in the championship."

Hodgson came in seventh in race two to move three places up the table to 10th overall. Japan's Noriyuki Haga still heads the standings despite finishing only ninth and 10th having been injured during a crash in practice.

Race 1: 1 C Edwards (USA) Castrol Honda 32mins 24.648secs, 2 A Slight (Nzl) Castrol Honda 32:24.731, 3 T Corser (Aus) Ducati 32:30.282, 4 N Hodgson (Gbr) Kawasaki 32:30.744, 5 P-F Chili (Ita) Ducati 32:44.795, 6 C Fogarty (Gbr) Ducati 32:30.885

Race 2: 1 C Edwards (USA) Castrol Honda 32:29.458, 2 C Fogarty (Gbr) Ducati 32m 32.155, 3 P-F Chili (Ita) Ducati 32:33.753, 4 T Corser (Aus) Ducati 32:40.099, 5 J Whitham (Gbr) Suzuki 32:47.897, 6 A Yanagawa (Jpn) Kawasaki 32:47.922, 7 N Hodgson (Gbr) Kawasaki 32:54.960

Championship standings (after 3 rounds): 1 Haga 104pts, 2 Corser 99, 3 Fogarty 96, 4 Edwards 87 10 Hodgson 34.

Castrol Honda's World Supersport championship rider Michael Paquay died from injuries sustained in an accident involving three other riders on the finishing straight at the Monza circuit on Saturday morning.

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