BRIAN DOOGAN reports
CARL Fogarty gave his adoring fans the win they sought at Brands Hatch.
But he surrendered his overall lead to bitter rival John Kocinski after a dramatic seventh round of the World Superbikes Championship.
The Blackburn ace crashed out of the opening race in the fifth lap at Druids, his Ducati swerving violently across the track, dumping him on the tarmac.
"I tried to turn in a bit too tightly to try and get some extra drive out of the corner," explained the twice world champion.
"But the bike just turned around on me.
"There was nothing I could do."
New Zealander Simon Crafar was unable to avoid the wreckage on his Kawasaki and also crashed out.
It left the way clear for Italian Ducati rider Pier-Francesco Chili, who broke the lap record to take pole position, to take the chequered flag for the third time this season ahead of American Scott Russell and Britain's Niall MacKenzie on a Yamaha.
Burnley's Neil Hodgson came through in fifth position, under six seconds behind Chili and one place behind Kocinski, who took full advantage of Fogarty's mishap.
But Foggy rallied courageously in the second race which was interrupted by rain and marked by his collision with Chili - also at Druids - which knocked the Italian out of the race. With little space, Fogarty charged through in a daring move on lap seven to take Chili on the inside after he had made the early running.
But the action was interrupted on lap 11 with Fogarty leading as rain lashed down on the Kent track.
On the restart, Michael Rutter dominated but the real drama was Fogarty and Kocinski battling for supremacy, their machines never more than a length apart.
"I knew what I had to do - just keep John within five seconds, not let him get away and the race would be mine," said Fogarty, who threw his boots and helmet into the crowd in celebration.
"I'm delighted with the win and it gave the fans what they wanted.
"I'm just sorry about what happened in the first race."
On combined times, Kocinski was second overall and wet race winner Rutter third.
"It's been some day but I've come out of this with the title lead and that's not something I expected," said Kocinski.
"After qualifying I thought Fogarty was going to increase his four-point lead he had before Brands Hatch."
Hodgson came sixth in the second race and moved up two places to eighth in the table. FIRST RACE RESULT: 1 Pier-Francesco Chili, Italy (Ducati) 36m 23.452s, 2 Scott Russell, USA (Yamaha) 36m 25.524s, 3 Niall Mackenzie, GB (Yamaha) 36m 25.993s, 4 John Kocinski, USA (Castrol Honda) 36m 26.460s, 5 Neil Hodgson,GB (Ducati) 36m 29.284s.
SECOND RACE RESULT: 1 Carl Fogarty, GB (Ducati) 39m 31.922s, 2 John Kocinski, USA (Castrol Honda) 39m 36.676s, 3 Michael Rutter, GB (Honda) 39m 47.791s, 4 Akira Yanagawa, Japan (Kawasaki) 39m 49.410s, 5 Scott Russell, USA (Yamaha) 39m 49.421s, 6 Neil Hodgson, GB (Ducati) 39m 50.190s.
POINTS AFTER SEVEN ROUNDS, 14 RACES: Kocinski 246, Fogarty 242, Slight 179, Russell 150, Crafar 135, Chili 134, Yanagawa 100, Hodgson 88, Whitham 87, Colin Edwards, USA (Yamaha) 79.
Next round: A-1 Ring, Austria - August 17
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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