FOR several horrible, agonising minutes, the world of motorbikes feared the worst, writes Neil Bramwell.

Hardcore British fans stared at the live television pictures early on Sunday morning in stunned disbelief.

Fogarty was carrying an on-board camera, which had always previously interfered with the Ducati's electrics, for the first time.

So the viewers witnessed everything in horrifying close-up -- the back wheel of the bike of Austrian rider Robert Ulm, the clear Perspex fairing at the front of Fogarty's bike and, suddenly and inexplicably, contact between the two.

Sky and gravel combined frenetically for a fraction of a second, the picture went fuzzy and a new camera angle focused on Fogarty's slumped and motionless body.

A marshall ran up and knealt next to his frame, unsure of what to do next. The TV commentators, including Foggy's big buddy, Jamie Whitham, were lost for words.

Still Fogarty did not move.

And, as the race continued, the studio director opted to spare his audience any possible unpalatable pictures.

But that did not prevent a collective nausea until Eurosport commentator Jack Burnicle was relieved to announce that Fogarty had regained consciousness.

Explanation of the crash is still open to conjecture. One paddock theory is that Ulm, ironically riding a Ducati 996 for the Gerin team, missed a gear change.

That would have caused his bike to slow momentarily and without warning. Another theory is that he was protecting the dry racing line with too much zeal and not enough awareness of events around him.

For Fogarty, like the eventual winner of race two, Troy Corser, had started to motor after a slow start.

Up to that point, the whole day had been about tyre choice in unpredictable weather conditions.

At the start of race two, the clouds had lifted and a dry race was declared.

Most riders opted for a cut slick, which helps grip in the wet, and a slick dry weather rear tyre.

This policy would have paid dividends later in the race if it stayed dry.

By lap five, Fogarty was beginning to find grip and work his way through the pack to challenge the leaders, such as Colin Edwards, who had chosen wet weather tyres in the front and back.

But, just as in the first race, Fogarty found out the hard way that the also-rans are not willing to just move aside to let him through.

After a couple of laps of race one, Spaniard Juan Borja appeared to lash out at Fogarty as he overtook during his charge through the field.

The reigning world champ even had not knock his clutch back into position after the incident.

But he brushed that off after claiming a creditable second place behind home rider Anthony Gobert, who used his local knowledge of the climate to gamble correctly on wet weather tyres.

Foggy said: "We were trying to get another rider's draught and we just touched. There was no drama."

Gobert, whose team had wanted him to use hand cut intermediate tyres like the rest of the field, opened up an enormous gap early on.

The Ducati team had made a last minute decision to switch from wet weather tyres to intermediates.

But, as the track dried out in the middle of the race, Fogarty started to make in-roads into Gobert's lead with just enough time to peg him back.

Then another shower played into Gobert's hands.

Fogarty added: "I thought we'd gambled right. I thought we had done everything perfectly and I was going to win it.

"I was gaining two seconds a lap on Gobert until the rain came down again and that was it. So I suppose we are happy with second and I'll go out and win the next race."

There are times when it is as dangerous to predict this sport as it is to participate in it. Phillip Island: The Facts

First race result: 1 Anthony Gobert, Australia (Bimota) 40m 48.406s, 2 Carl Fogarty, GB (Ducati) 41m 17.948s, 3 Vittoriano Guareschi, Italy (Yamaha) 41m 29.611s, 4 Lucio Pedercini, Italy (Ducati) 41m 40.580s, 5 Colin Edwards, USA (Castrol Honda) 41m 45.391s, 6 Robert Ulm, Austria (Ducati) 41m 45.574s, 7 Gregorio Lavilla, Spain (Kawasaki) 41m 46.033s, 8 Giovanni Bussei, Italy (Kawasaki) 41m 54.629s, 9 Akira Yanagawa, Japan (Kawasaki) 42m 05.477s, 10 Noriyuki Haga, Japan (Yamaha) 42m 21.154s.

Second race result: 1 Troy Corser, Australia (Aprilia) 25m 45.786s, 2 Noriyuki Haga, Japan (Yamaha) 25m 47.780s, 3 Pier-Francesco Chili, Italy (Suzuki) 25m 50.116s, 4 Gregorio Lavilla, Spain (Kawasaki) 26m 09.378s, 5 Colin Edwards, USA (Castrol Honda) 26m 09.390s, 6 Akira Yanagawa, Japan (Kawasaki) 26m 11.029s, 7 Katsuaki Fujiwara, Japan (Suzuki) 26m 11.108s, 8 Simon Crafar, New Zealand (Castrol Honda) 26m 26.618s, 9 Anthony Gobert, Australia (Bimota) 26m 27.135s, 10 Haruchika Aoki, Japan (Ducati) 26m 29.109s.

Championship points after round two of 13: 1 Haga 71, 2 Edwards 67, 3 Corser 51, 4 Chili 43, 5 Lavilla 42, 6 Gobert and Fogarty 36, 8 Fujiwara 27, 9 Aoki 26, 10 Ben Bostrom, USA (Ducati) 18. 17 Crafar 12

Manufacturers points: 1 Yamaha 81, 2 Honda 67, 3 Ducati 53, 4 Aprilia 51, 5 Suzuki 46, 6 Kawasaki 42, 7 Bimota 36.

Next round: Sugo, Japan - April 30