CARL Fogarty was today attempting to shut out memories of a tragic week and concentrate on his quest for a fourth World Superbike title.

The Blackburn star has spent the last few days trying to pick up the pieces of a family life that was shattered after the two-year-old daughter of family friends drowned in his swimming pool.

He arrived in Germany yesterday for today's qualifying practice session at the Nurburgring track hoping to restore a degree of normality by picking up where he left off with two race wins in Monza.

"I have not had time to think about the race really. Hopefully I can get my mind on what I do, racing motorbikes.

"And hopefully I can do something this weekend that's going to make everybody smile a little bit and make people feel a bit better," he said.

Fogarty is on relatively unfamiliar territory, having only raced on the 2.8 mile track last year.

It is a relatively new circuit, opened in 1984, and is characterised by a "big dipper" effect of steep climbs and drops along with a number of slow corners.

The Nurburgring, 50 miles south of Bonn, is notorious for being the scene of racing driver Nikki Lauda's horrific injuries and another driver, Jochen Rindt, once described tackling the circuit as "fighting the dragon".

For spectators, who are separated from the racers by large run-off areas, it has a remote and somewhat clinical feel. Castrol Honda's Aaron Slight holds the superbike lap record of 1min 53.51secs at an average speed of 93 mph but Fogarty's Ducati team-mate Troy Corser took pole position when the Nurburgring staged superbike racing for the first time last year.

The track is high up in the hills of the Eifel Forest and has a record of poor weather.

Heavy rain last year, added to the onset of lingering back problems for Fogarty, combined to produce a return of two 13th places - the worst of his championship campaign.

"I had a disastrous day. My back trouble flared up and it threw it down all Sunday.

"But the track suits everybody's bike, really.

"It's one that I don't know very well but there are no particularly long straits that would favour the Hondas.

"It will be down to the set-up and riders on the day," said Fogarty.

Fogarty is awaiting the results of a scan on his back, where general wear and tear has affected a disc towards the bottom of the spine. Although the problem clearly did not affect Fogarty in Monza, it is a worry and the longer gap between races after the Brands Hatch round on August 1 is expected to provide welcome respite.

Before then, Fogarty has been trying to limit aggravating factors.

"I am always messing around outside, doing spadework and throwing rocks around and that makes it worse.

"So I have been trying to cut that down."

World Superbike championship points after five of 13 rounds: 1 Carl

Fogarty, GB (Ducati) 217, 2 Colin Edwards, USA (Castrol Honda) 162, 3 Troy Corser, Australia (Ducati) 157, 4 Akira Yanagawa, Japan (Kawasaki) 126, 5 Aaron Slight, New Zealand (Castrol Honda) 115, 6 Noriyuki Haga, Japan (Yamaha) 95, 7 Pier-Francesco Chili, Italy (Suzuki) 85, 8 Gregorio Lavilla, Spain (Kawasaki) 58, 9 Katsuaki Fujiwara, Japan (Suzuki) 55, 10 Doriano Romboni, Italy (Ducati) 44.

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