MOTORCYCLING: Fogarty will be cool to Chili in title defence

CARL FOGARTY, the World Superbike champion, plans to defend his title in style next year - but yesterday he maintained that he will not patch up his rift with Pier-Francesco Chili, his fellow Ducati rider.

Fogarty, who wrapped up his third world title in Japan at the weekend, is still seething about an incident in Assen last month when Italian rider Chili blamed him for ending his own World Championship dreams.

Chili, whose Ducati is not in the same team as that of Fogarty, came off on the last lap and blamed his British rival for causing the crash.

"It was all his problem, I did nothing wrong," Fogarty said in an interview on Radio 5 Live. "I won a race and he made a mistake and fell off and looked for some scapegoat. He tried to blame me but he's made himself look an idiot really.

"I think it goes far beyond what happened at Assen. As far as I'm concerned I want nothing to do with the guy again, I've lost all respect for him really."

Fogarty is close to sealing a new deal with Ducati for next season, ending speculation that he may quit to spend more time with his family.

"I'm very confident I will be staying with Ducati next year," he said. "I'm 90 per cent certain at this point and I'm sure there'll be no problems at all.

"Now I've won the world championship, and I'll have that number one on the back of my bike next year, I just don't intend giving it up."