Foggy: I would've beaten Doohan.

Four times World Superbike Champion Carl Fogarty has admitted he regrets not racing - and beating - Mick Doohan (pictured) in 500cc Grand Prix racing, to prove he was the best ever.

In an interview for MCN Sport magazine, Foggy says that since retiring he's been haunted by not challenging the "Thunder from Down Under" when he had the chance.

"I have only started thinking about it recently, but it is really bugging me now because I know I would have been good enough to beat everyone out there," says King Carl in typically uncompromising fashion.

"It really makes me angry when I hear people going on about how hard the 500 GP bikes are to ride," he adds. "That's rubbish - they're just big 250s and I was always fast on a 250. Doohan told me they were easy to ride now - nothing like they used to be. "

A Doohan/Fogarty confrontation will forever be a "what if" that would truly have decided who was the greatest motorcycle racer of the modern era: Doohan made his name in MotoGP - winning a massive 50 Grands Prix and five consecutive 500cc World Championships, while Foggy is the most successfully WSB rider ever with four World Championships.

Both Fogarty and Doohan had their careers cut short by horrific accidents and have since moved into more 'advisary' roles with their old teams, Ducati and Honda respectively.

However it seems that Foggy, who couldn't stand losing perhaps more than any other rider, is finding life hard on the slow side of the pit wall...