SUPERBIKE legend Carl Fogarty wants to sign up Neil Hodgson for his team next season.

The Blackburn bike ace is ready to bury the hatchet with his old rival from Burnley after admitting he's one of the few riders capable of beating Troy Bayliss and Troy Corser in World Superbikes.

"I'd like to see Hodgson come back to WSB and I definitely wouldn't rule out signing him up," said Foggy, who's hoping to find a sponsor to fund a new team next season.

"I do rate him and I've even defended him to people who say he isn't that good.

"As far as I'm concerned, he won the championship in 2003 and it wasn't his fault that the level of competition wasn't so high.

"In the past I've said things, he's said things, but a lot of it was just the hype of top-level bike racing.

"I think he would shock a lot of people he's one of the few guys who could come back and beat this lot, just as long as he's still hungry."

Foggy and Hodgson have been involved in a series of verbal sparring matches in the past.

But now Fogarty is hoping to lure his former team-mate back from America, where he is currently competing on the US Superbike circuit.