SPARE a thought for Dr Massimo Corbascio.

The Italian doctor, who follows the World Superbike championship around working in the riders' mobile clinic, had worked manfully for three days trying to make Carl Fogarty's shoulder race fit.

On the day before the race he received news that his father had suffered a heart attack back in Italy and was in a coma.

But, after Saturday's Superpole, when he and the other medics were discussing Sunday morning's series of injecting and course of pills, Corbascio was told that his father could speak once again.

His glow of relief was only matched by the warmth of his gratitude when Fogarty handed over the trophy, for finishing the first race of the season in third place, as a mark of gratitude for all the doctor's hard work.

"I had to thank the doctors because I haven't been the easiest person to deal with in the last couple of days," said Fogarty.

Those efforts in the treatment room looked to have paid off when Fogarty was a creditable third.

But the events of the second race illustrated just how many factors are at play in producing a successful outcome from this kind of race.

For a split second's loss of concentration or bad luck can blow all the preparation in the world out of the water.

Fortunately, after Fogarty's 11th lap fall, Corbascio and his team were not required as the rider was not physically hurt. But the dejection in the Ducati garage was all too evident as they packed up and, at the same time, started their preparation for Australia in three weeks time.

This team, however, know Fogarty well enough to realise that no-one takes defeat as seriously as the rider himself and that no stone between Johannesburg and Phillip Island will be left unturned in a collective bid to prevent repetition.

His inquest started immediately: "The thing that's preying on my mind is that there was something on the track, maybe from Chili's back because Troy also went straight on into the gravel.

"I had lost the front end on the first lap and nearly ran in the back of somebody. I then sort of lost confidence for a couple of laps.

"But I was just pushing the front end in there and had saved it three other times before I crashed. Obviously, with the 16.5in front tyre that I used in the first race, I could push it in harder. The 17in held the line a bit better in the second race, so that's why I was probably putting in the times.'

The first race had perfectly captured the appeal of superbikes and was perfectly captured by Haga's very broken English. "Very exciting. Too dangerous," he said.

Foggy finished the first lap in fourth place after Noriyuki Haga darted through at the start.

He briefly made it to second when he passed Corser and then Haga, but the Japanese rider retook him immediately when Fogarty ran wide. Edwards then developed a substantial lead while Fogarty appeared to be struggling to stay in touch with Haga.

But, slowly, the leading pack pulled away from Pierfrancesco Chili in fourth, while Haga and Fogarty closed the gap on the leader by the 15th of the 25 laps.

It initially looked as though Fogarty was keeping a safe distance away from an enthralling battle, with Haga in particular liable to do anything at any time.

Sure enough, as Haga tried to dive inside Edwards' Honda, the two leading bikes touched on a couple of occasions.

But while Fogarty was 10kmph quicker than the other two because he was riding in their slipstream, he was struggling to stay with them on accelerating out of three or four corners.

The shoulder injury was also causing problems in the two chicanes and, on top of that, his gear lever jammed early in the race and he had to start using the clutch.

Even so, it was anybody's race entering the final lap, with Edwards having regained the lead after it was temporarily snatched away by Haga.

And that's how it stayed as the riders crossed the finishing line with just 0.225 seconds separating the top three.

Fogarty said: "It was a good race and if someone had said you can have a third place at the start I would probably have taken it. "But, when you are that close to winning, I start thinking that I wish I could have won it.

"The first three were quicker than each other at different places and anything could have happened.

"We could all have ended up in the grass or it could have been the reverse result.

"Early on it was getting harder and harder to change gear and I knew eventually I would have to use the clutch, which meant I was using even more energy."

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