Sofuoglu on the verge of fourth World Supersport title
The Spanish Round of the 2015 Supersport World Championship will forever be remembered for the heavy crash that ruled Jules Cluzel out of contention this year. The Frenchman (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) sustained a broken left leg and dislocated right shoulder when he crashed at Turn 5 in the final seconds of Free Practice 2. His new quest is to recover and restart training ahead of winter testing prior to the 2016 season.
That leaves two riders in contention for the crown this year. Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) is the favourite; fresh from his pole position and victory in Spain, the three-time title winner of 2007, 2010 and 2012 leads New Yorker PJ Jacobsen (CORE’’ Motorsport Thailand) by 33 points with a maximum of 50 left on offer this season. This means a top two finish would automatically seal the title for Sofuoglu and, even if the Turk fails to finish the race, Jacobsen must still finish at least seventh to keep his hopes alive.
What cannot be decided at Magny-Cours is the Manufactures’ title. This will rage onto into the floodlit finale of Qatar. Kawasaki currently leads MV Agusta by eight points and Honda by 17, which means a triangular shootout is still on the cards.
Magny-Cours has been on the World Supersport calendar since 2003. Back then, Karl Muggeridge led home fellow Australian and that year’s World Champion Chris Vermeulen, while last year Jules Cluzel beat title winner Michael van der Mark by a massive 20 seconds.
Five riders will race in France as either One Event or Wildcard entries. Frenchman Cedric Tangre rides a Suzuki for Yohann Moto Sport, while Kallio Racing will field a Yamaha for Estonian Hannes Soomer. The other three riders in question also raced at Jerez: Frenchman Lucas Mahias (MG Competition, Yamaha) and Hungarians David Juhasz and Janos Chrobak (Schmidt Racing, Honda). Incidentally, Tangre and Mahias are the only two French representatives in the field following the 2015 departure of the aforementioned Cluzel.
The penultimate World Supersport race of the year will blast into life from 11:40am local time (GMT +2) on Sunday.
FIM Supersport World Championship (10 of 12 rounds completed)
1 – Kenan Sofuoglu Kawasaki Puccetti Racing 193
2 – PJ Jacobsen CORE” Motorsport Thailand Honda 160 (-33)
3 – Jules Cluzel MV Agusta Reparto Corse 155 (-38)