Blackburn Hero Carl Fogarty Looks Back at Iconic 1994 World Superbike Title Win

Carl Fogarty admits he can still feel the emotion of winning his first World Superbike title even though it happened 30 years ago.  

The Blackburn hero, fondly known as Foggy, became a British sporting icon during a career that saw him lift four World Superbike Championships. But his maiden success in 1994 remains the most iconic for many, given that it came down to a final-round decider. 

It took place in Phillip Island, Australia, on October 30, and those words alone were enough to spark a passionate response from one of the finest racers of all time. 

“I got goosebumps then,” said Foggy in a special video interview looking back at the landmark anniversary.  

“It was just emotional. Relief and emotion just spilling out from the year that I’d had. At the start of the year, breaking my wrist in the second round. I had a few mechanical issues mid-season, and it all came down to the last race of the year on the other side of the world.

“Having just missed out on the championship in 1993, I should have won it, and for it all to come down to this. To cross that line and to realise your dream, something you’ve worked for for years – the emotion, floods of tears and relief, it was the biggest thing I can remember. Relief that I’d finally won it. 

“When I came in I was looking for Michaela to share that moment with. I was trying to push everybody else out of that way, even Barry Sheene who was trying to interview me. I was like ‘mind out Barry, I want to embrace my wife’. We were both in floods of tears with emotion, it was very emotional.” 

A win and second place Down Under was enough to see Fogarty pip American Scott Russell, the 93 champion, to the sport’s biggest prize. More glory followed in 95, 98 and 99 for the Ducati legend yet he concedes breaking his duck was arguably the hardest feat to achieve. 

It came during a campaign during which his wife was pregnant with their first child. He broke his wrist, endured several mechanical issues with the new 916, had a change in team manager, and threw a house move and renovation into the mix for good measure.   

“…all of the emotions were building to that very last race.”

“When I take myself back to that time, there was a lot going on really,” he added during the interview with Bikesure, the motorcycle insurance broker he has been brand ambassador for since 2012, at his home in Lancashire. 

 “I was leading the race in Indonesia by six or seven seconds and the engine dropped a valve so I lost that race and I was like ‘for God’s sake, what more’s going to go wrong this year?’ Claudia was born in August, and I made it home for that. I had a decent lead going into Donington (penultimate round), and the heavens opened. I went for the wrong wet tyre, I struggled like mad to finish 14th, and Scott won both races.  

“It just built up with highs and lows throughout the year, moving house in between and a broken wrist and having a new baby, and all of the emotions were building to that very last race.” 

The 15-minute interview covers much more about the 1994 season and also looks back on another famous milestone—10 years since Foggy won the reality TV show I’m a Celebrity. 

NorthernLife Sep/Oct/Nov 24