BRASH American Colin Edwards advised Carl Fogarty to stop 'crying' and concentrate on racing just hours before the two races.

"If Carl would get the water out of his boots, he will be up there with us. I guess he's upset because I smoked him," advised the Texan Tornado.

Edwards, 62 points behind Fogarty entering round 10 at Austria's sodden A1-Ring, was referring to comments Fogarty had made after the disappointment of Brands Hatch, criticising Castol Honda's own complaints about the superiority of Fogarty's Ducati.

Well, Fogarty was up there with Edwards when clinching second place as the American recorded a third successive victory in race one.

But it was Edwards who appeared to have something in his boots - lead - as Fogarty restored his lead over the Honda rider with a patient and mature fourth placed finish in race two.

In an ideal world, Fogarty would have entered the meeting hoping for a better return than a second and fourth place.

This, however, was far from ideal as heavy rain turned the races into a battle of wits and courage as much as speed and skill. It was clear Fogarty was concentrating on his racing - and hard.

He had entered the round hoping to steady the ship after Brands. Mission accomplished.

The Blackburn world champ stretched his overall championship lead over Troy Corser from 48 points to 61, with just three rounds remaining and 150 points still up for grabs. In the contest between discretion and valour, there was only one winner in Austria yesterday.

A smattering of rain in the morning, and with unpredictable conditions before the race started, made the choice of tyres something of a lottery for race one.

Fogarty and Edwards chose different combinations and the relative advantage chopped and changed as the conditions worsened.

Edwards pulled away in the drying conditions but, when the rain eventually came at the end of the race, the effect of Fogarty's cut slick tyre at front had worn off.

He said: "I've got to be thankful just to have stayed on. It felt good at one point then that confidence went as the weather kept changing around. I knew what Edwards was on with an intermediate at the front which meant he could break a lot harder in the wet.

"I had a cut slick at the front and did not dare touch the brake. And, when it was drying out, the rear just shredded itself and became a slick."

The reactions of the respective riders to the result said it all. Edwards was clearly relieved while Foggy exuded a smug satisfaction. Wet weather racing is not his forte and this was a real bonus.

And the American's stomach for the championship fight was summed up in one sentence: "Do we really have to do it again? I really don't want to."

Texan Tornado? More a gentle breeze. For Fogarty, on the other hand, the job was only half complete. And his cool professionalism in the second race, as Edwards struggled with the rain that fell throughout the 25 laps, may prove crucial as the championship race draws to a conclusion.

He added: "I tried to work alot with my body so as not to lean over the bike too far. Overall I'm pretty satisfied with the way the day has gone. With the rain I thought it was going to be a disaster, but I managed to score some vital points".

RACE ONE: Edwards had pole but had crashed in the morning's warm-up and was soon passed by team-mate Aaron Slight and Fogarty on the first lap. By lap seven Edwards and Pier-Francesco Chili were catching fast as the track appeared to be drying.

Both eased past Fogarty and Chili stormed into a comfortable lead, with little resistance from Slight.

There was little confidence that Chili would go the distance and, as sure as eggs are scrambled, he crashed out on lap 14.

That was the signal for Edwards to make his move, taking Slight as Corser sneaked up on Fogarty into third place.

Then, in one amazing manoeuvre, the Aussie slipped by the Hondas to take the lead.

This was the worst possible scenario for Fogarty, with all his closest competitors gaining significant points.

The rain, however, had started and was to play a decisive part. Slight was first to make a mistake, crashing out with three laps remaining and Corser followed his poor example one lap later. That lifted Fogarty into second place so he wisely eased off the gas and, as Edwards slithered his way to his third consecutive race victory, Fogarty coasted home to collect 20 points and extend his championship lead to 57 points as Edwards leapfrogged Corser into second place.

First race result: 1 Colin Edwards, USA (Castrol Honda) 43m 03.055s, 2 Carl Fogarty, GB (Ducati) 43m 24.019s, 3 Vittoriano Guareschi, Italy (Yamaha) 44m 15.200s, 4 Robert Ulm, Austria (Kawasaki) 44m 43.387s, 5 Gregorio Lavilla, Spain (Kawasaki) 45m 08.403s, 6 Brian Morrison, GB (Yamaha) 1 lap, 7 Mauro Lucchiari, Italy (Yamaha) 1 lap, 8 Alessandro Gramigni, Italy (Yamaha) 1 lap, 9 Frederic Protat, France (Ducati) 1 lap, 10 Lucio Pedercini, Italy (Ducati) 2 laps.

RACE TWO: Fogarty lost traction at the start and slipped quickly back through the pack. But Edwards was also having trouble and Fogarty played a canny waiting game as Chili stretched an impressive lead over Corser and Slight at the front of the field.

Fogarty, meanwhile, was slowly picking off riders one by one until he had Edwards in his sights.

And, as the likes of Noriyuki Haga slid into the gravel, the pair moved gradually up the standings.

On lap 16 Fogarty, pounced to go past Edwards into seventh. Then Vito Gaureschi also tasted Tarmac and Fogarty was suddenly closing in on Roger Kellenburger in fifth.

The German was clinically disposed of, but the task of catching Giovanni Bussei in fifth looked out of the question until the Italian ran out of fuel on the last lap. Fogarty sneaked home in fourth to collect 13 points and restore his lead over Edwards as Corser reclaimed second place in the championship.

Second: 1 Pier-Francesco Chili, Italy (Suzuki) 46m 40.235s, 2 Troy Corser, Australia (Ducati) 46m 57.981s, 3 Aaron Slight, New Zealand (Castrol Honda) 47m 18.423s, 4 Fogarty 47m 52.057s, 5 Roger Kellenberger, Germany (Honda) 47m 57.529s, 6 Giovanni Bussei, Italy (Suzuki) 48m 09.285s, 7 Andy Meklau, Austria (Ducati) 48m 10.794s, 8 Edwards 48m 21.795s, 9 Mauro Lucchiari, Italy (Yamaha) 48m 25.669s, 10 Morrison 48m 32.738s.

Championship points after 10 of 13 rounds: 1 Fogarty 363, 2 Corser 302, 3 Edwards 301, 4 Slight 252, 5 Akira Yanagawa, Japan (Kawasaki) 215, 6 Chili 185, 7 Haga 144, 8 Lavilla 120, 9 Katsuaki Fujiwara, Japan (Kawasaki) 96, 10 Guareschi 86.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.