THE man is without equal on a motorbike.

Carl Fogarty picked up his 1999 World Superbike Championship campaign exactly where he left off last season - winning.

Fogarty took both races in the opening round in South Africa with astounding ease.

And the second Kyalami victory was his 50th superbike race win.

It was the 13th time Blackburn's triple world champion had won both heats of a championship round.

He said: "It's incredible. It's unusual to have two easy victories.

"Even in 1993-1994 they were never that easy.

"I'll take them anyway and I hope they are all like that but somehow I don't think so.

"It was one of those weekends where everything was going really well and we got the bike working really good.

"I feel strong on the bike and, even when I couldn't get first away, I passed Troy Corser on the brakes and Aaron Slight on the brakes." Those two riders enjoyed a second and third place each from the two races, leaving Fogarty already 14 points clear going into the second round in Australia later this month.

But neither were able to mount a serious challenge on a track notoriously difficult for passing.

Fogarty, who had only recorded the fourth fastest qualifying time but leapt into second place on the grid after the controversial Superpole, was clean away in the first and led from start to finish with a five second winning margin.

The Ducati rider entered the first bend of the second race in fourth position but quickly reasserted his superiority and won by six seconds.

It was a weekend when the perils of the sport were tragically hammered home.

South African superbike champion Brett McLeod died after crashing his Suzuki during the first leg of the Supersport championship at the Johannesburg circuit, between the two Superbike races.

MacLeod was killed after he lost control of his 600cc Suzuki as he came out of a corner. He flew over the handlebars and was hit by another bike as he lay on the track. Fogarty, 32, was left despondent after the tragedy marred any celebration.

"Motorcycling is a very dangerous sport and there's no getting away from that," Fogarty said.

"It's difficult to celebrate today after what has happened.

"It hits everybody in the paddack when something like this happens. It's the terrible downside of racing."

And, perhaps with that in mind, Fogarty buried the hatchet with former Ducati team-mate Pierfranciso Chilli after a long-running feud had bubbled over into this campaign.

The two riders shook hands as Fogarty celebrated his second victory with a lap of honour.

First race result: 1 Carl Fogarty, GB (Ducati) 43m 35.637s, 2 Troy Corser, Australia (Ducati) 43m 40.894s, 3 Aaron Slight, New Zealand (Castrol Honda) 43m 45.416s, 4 Noriyuki Haga, Japan (Yamaha) 43m 48.818s, 5 Colin Edwards, USA (Castrol Honda) 43m 50.172s, 6 Akira Yanagawa, Japan (Kawasaki) 43m 52.184s, 7 Pier-Francesco Chili, Italy (Ducati) 44m 08.494s, 8 Gregorio Lavilla, Spain (Kawasaki) 44m 12.736s, 9 Doriano Romboni, Italy (Ducati) 44m 21.328s, 10 Robert Ulm, Austria (Kawasaki) 44m 29.822s.

Second race result: 1 Carl Fogarty, GB (Ducati) 43m 41.963s, 2 Aaron Slight, New Zealand (Castrol Honda) 43m 48.036s, 3 Troy Corser, Australia (Ducati) 43m 49.242s, 4 Colin Edwards, USA (Castrol Honda) 43m 54.364s, 5 Akira Yanagawa, Japan (Kawasaki) 43m 57.595s, 6 Gregorio Lavilla, Spain (Kawasaki) 44m 01.597s, 7 Peter Goddard, Australia (Aprilia) 44m 03.484s, 8 Pier-Francesco Chili, Italy (Suzuki) 44m 07.471s, 9 Doriano Romboni, Italy (Ducati) 44m 07.623s, 10 Katsuaki Fujiwara, Japan (Suzuki) 44m 13.378s. Championship points after first round of 13: Fogarty 50, Slight and Corser 36, Edwards 24, Yanagawa 21, Lavilla 18, Chili 17, Romboni 14, Haga 13, Ulm and Fujiwara 11.

Manufacturers points after first round: Ducati 50, Honda 36, Kawasaki 21, Suzuki 17, Yamaha 16, Aprilia 9. Next round: Phillip Island, Australia - April 18

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