Foggy: I quit

Announcing his retirement exclusively in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, the four-times World Superbike champion conceded defeat to the horrific arm injury sustained in Australia in April.

He said: "The decision has been made for me.

"I didn't want to go out like this. That's why I have been hanging on for so long -- because I wanted to come back and race next year.

"But all good things come to an end. It has to end some day. It's a bad way but it could have been a hell of a lot worse.

"I have had a fantastic career but it has not been the fantastic ending that always thought I would have.

"I wanted to go out with everyone knowing that it was the last time Fogarty will race.

"But I accept what has happened and now I have to get on with the second chapter of my life. I've risked my life for 20 years and the most important thing now is to have my health.

Wife Michaela added: "I'm happy because now I know that he's safe. I have waited for this day for so long. But now it's the end and it's a sad thing."

Fogarty smashed his left arm in three places in the second round of this season's World Superbike championship at Phillip Island.

He had an operation to pin the arm back together and the summer has been a long, hard struggle to try and regain strength and movement in the limb.

But, at a special testing session set up by his employers Ducati at Mugello in Spain at the start of this week, he realised he was fighting a losing battle.

Foggy added: "I could not find the words to describe how bad it was when I came in after a few laps at Mugello.

"I had been playing a bit of tennis and a bit of jet-skiing and felt I wasn't a million miles away.

"But on the bike it was horrendous. I was one per cent of the guy I was seven months ago.

"I was stuck on this thing in absolute agony. I was going down the straight like a preying mantis.

"I couldn't even get down behind the bubble, change direction or hang off the bike at the corners.

"It confirmed everything that my specialist had said. The arm would no longer be able to take the constant pounding.

"It's like a piece of coral that has broken off, it takes years and years to grow back again." Fogarty had feared the worst as the summer progressed.

He added: "By June I knew there was no way I was going to race again this year. And, as time went on, it became more and more apparent I would never race again.

"When I first got the injury all I wanted to do was get fixed up and carry on. But, as the weeks and months went by, it became more and more obvious that the injury was a lot worse.

"The bones were healing well but healing in this part of the body is so slow. I am making a better than average recovery but the soft muscle tissue has been damaged so badly.

"So I started to realise that I would not be able to do what I did.

"And by the time I went to the test at Mugello at the start of this week my mind was made up that I was never going to race again.

"That test made me realise just how difficult what I do for living has been. Until this point I had always thought it had been easy.

"It's an injury that people find hard to understand -- and that's quite frustrating. If I had broken my back everyone would be able to understand why I was quitting.

"But this has cost me a lot of movement and lot of power and there's no way I would be back by March and the start of the new season.

"I might be able to do okay by August and finish fifth or sixth, but it would be impossible to race for the world championship."

Fogarty intends to remain in the sport with Ducati and is also pursuing a few other avenues.

He explained: "I will almost certainly stay involved with Ducati. They want to keep me on for at least the next three years.

"It's just a case of ironing out the small details.

"It has been mentioned that I will be a mentor for Ruben Xaus, their Spanish rider in the Supersport series.

"They want me to be the face for Ducati for at least three years and I will possibly be involved in a Carl Fogarty Race School at Brands Hatch.

"There has been talk of some commentating and a few people are interested in getting me in a car, maybe touring cars or what I call 'fun cars'.

"I want to spend a bit more time at home with my family. When you spend so much time wanting to win, you forget other things which are probably more important.

"For so long there was only one thing that mattered and that was winning motorcycle races.

"But things change. I feel as though I've put so much effort, time and dedication into winning, I feel like I want to enjoy myself now.

"I've been so aggressive and focused and single-minded over the years because I have wanted to win so much.

"I am a different person now away from the track. I'm more relaxed and I have more time for people."

But Fogarty realises that it will be hard to replace the constant thrill of winning races and world titles.

He clinched his first World Superbike title in 1994 and followed that up the following year.

Then after an ill-fated year with Honda and a return to Ducati in 1997, he again clinched back-to-back titles in 1998 and 1999.

Foggy added: "I'll miss the winning so much -- for myself, for Ducati and for the fans. Nothing will ever replace that feeling.

"Climbing onto that middle step and listening to the crowd going mad is the one thing I'll miss more than anything.

"I was always confident that I was going to be world champion.

"But I could never have predicted that I would have had a massive following -- bigger than any other motorcycle racer in British history. To have a bigger fan following, certainly in 1999, was something that kind of scared me in a way.

"To see 120,000 going mad for you at Brands Hatch and 60,000 at Assen is something I could never have believed or predicted."

Other highlights in Fogarty's career include the World Formula One titles in 1988 and 1989, the FIM World Cup in 1990 and the World Endurance title in 1992.

He also won three Isle of Man TT titles one in 1989 and two in 1990.

"I have been so fortunate to have achieved such a lot, to pick one highlight out is almost impossible.

"But the thing that comes back to me is at Phillip Island in 1994 when I won my first world championship.

"That was the start of the snowball rolling down the hill -- not just for me but for the sport.

"It's only now that I have started to think that I'm responsible for quite a lot like mechanics having jobs in England.

"I have brought TV and sponsors in. The BBC would never have covered World Superbikes if I had not had my success.

"So I've paved the way for other British riders to go on and do things.

"I have been the hero, now let somebody else be the hero."