FIM Supersport World Championship
Donington Park, England
May 29, 2016
Race Results (all on Pirelli tires):
1. Kenan SOFUOGLU, Turkey (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 20 laps, Total Race Time 30:29.814, Fastest Lap Time 1:30.959
2. PJ JACOBSEN, USA (Honda CBR600RR), -1.569 seconds, 1:31.135
3. Randy KRUMMENACHER, Switzerland (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -3.775, 1:31.087
4. Gino REA, UK (MV Agusta F3 675), -7.204, 1:31.421
5. Luke STAPLEFORD, UK (Triumph Daytona 675), -7.576, 1:31.231
6. Kyle SMITH, UK (Honda CBR600RR), -11.323, 1:30.887
7. Alex BALDOLINI, Italy (MV Agusta F3 675), -11.846, 1:31.275
8. Jules CLUZEL, France (MV Agusta F3 675), -15.008, 1:31.323
9. Ayrton BADOVINI, Italy (Honda CBR600RR), -15.215, 1:31.326
10. Lorenzo ZANETTI, Italy (MV Agusta F3 675), -19.492, 1:31.332
34. Braeden ORTT, Canada (Honda CBR600RR), -18 laps, DNF, crash, 1:35.345
World Championship Point Standings (after 7 of 12 races):
1. Sofuoglu, 121 points
2. Krummenacher, 95
3. Jacobsen, 76
4. Cluzel, 75
5. Smith, 67
6. Rea, 65
7. Baldolini, 60
8. Federico Caricasulo, 53
9. Badovini, 48
10. Khairuddin, 40
More, from a press release issued by Dorna WSBK Press Office:
WorldSSP: Supersport Perfection for Sofuoglu at Donington
Reigning Champion puts on a masterclass at #UKWorldSBK
The most successful World Supersport rider of all time – Kenan Sofuoglu – has taken another win in 2016 in a supreme display at Donington Park in the UK. The Turk lost the lead off the line before hunting down Honda rider PJ Jacobsen to retake P1 and subsequently pulling away from the chasing pack. American Jacobsen crossed the line in P2 for another podium finish, and second Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider Randy Krummenacher completed the podium in third in another impressive ride in his rookie year in WorldSSP.
A battle of the Brits raged just behind the podium finishers as front row starter Luke Stapleford battled Friday’s fastest Gino Rea, before GRT rider Rea managed to pull away and bring his MV Agusta home in P4, just ahead of the Triumph of Stapleford on home turf. Lorini rider Ayrton Badovini, after an amazing duel to the finish in Sepang, dueled once again at Donington but this time with ATK 25 rider Alex Baldolini. The duo were then joined in the fight by local rider Kyle Smith.
CIA Landlord Insurance Honda rider Smith, who won the race in Assen, got past Badovini with only a handful of laps remaining, then setting his sights on next Italian Baldolini. The Brit managed to fight off both to cross the line in P6 for another good haul of points, with Baldolini just behind him and a last minute move from MV Agusta Reparto Corse rider Jules Cluzel seeing the Frenchman take P8 from Badovini on the final lap. Cluzel had a difficult qualifying and is suffering effects from his crash in Jerez in 2015, with the result proving an impressive comeback ride for the Frenchman to finish in the top ten.
Lorenzo Zanetti, after a duel with his MV Agusta teammate Cluzel, completed the top ten for the Italian marque. The top FIM Europe Supersport Cup rider at Donington Park was once again Alessandro Zaccone for San Carlo Team Italia, with the young Italian impressing in his debut WorldSSP outings.
Round 8 will see WorldSSP back out to battle at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli on the Riviera di Rimini in June, as Sofuoglu sets his sights on the ever-closer fifth WorldSSP crown.
More, from a press release issued by CIA Insurance Honda:
Fastest Lap and Sixth for Smith
Sun, 29 May 2016
Kyle Smith posted the fastest lap of the World Supersport race today at the team’s home round of Donington Park, demonstrating beyond doubt that he has what it takes to win more races.
Kyle was a little slow off the line and dropped to 14th positon, but for the last half of the race distance he was the fastest man on the track.
Kyle said: “It’s been a bittersweet weekend. I didn’t have the pace in practice. The bike felt good but as a rider I couldn’t find the lap times, I had the splits but not a full lap strung together. In the race the pace dropped and I managed to run very fast lap times so it shows the bike felt good but with new tyres at the beginning of the race it was pushing the front alot and no feel on corner entry. I dropped back way far but I managed to get back to 6th and salvage some points which is good but not where I want to be, I want to be winning, so hopefully we can solve this for the next round and make it happen.”
Hikari Okubo beat his team-mate Christoffer Bergman to 15th position passing him on the last corner of the last lap, claiming another Championship point in the process. Hikari was forced to run straight on at the chicane in the early stages of the race but fought back from 24th place. Christoffer showed he is getting to grips with the CIA Landlord Insurance Honda this weekend and can go into the next round at Misano confident he has the pace to fight for Championship points. Stefan Hill was aiming for a top twenty finish at his home circuit but had to settle for 25th place.
Simon Buckmaster, CIA Landlord Insurance Honda Team Manager said: “For Kyle to have the fastest lap of the race clearly shows that he and the CIA Landlord Insurance Honda have the pace to challenge for the wins. We are working very closely with Ohlins to find the balance that helps Kyle with the first few laps of the race without compromising too much so that Kyle can make it happen. Kyle can still challenge for the Championship where he and CIA Landlord Insurance Honda should be.
A good job by Hikari, he is beginning to show his true potential and he will be a strong force in World Supersport. Christoffer will no doubt be slightly disappointed to have narrowly missed out on scoring his first Championship point but he has made a massive step up this weekend. Stefan made a good start at his home round but he will be a little disappointed to have dropped back to 25th.
More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki:
Sofuoglu Wins Again As Krummenacher Takes Third Place
The seventh race of the FIM Supersport World Championship season was won by championship leader Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), after 20 front-running laps of the 4.023km Donington circuit. Kenan’s team-mate Randy Krummenacher moved up from fifth in qualifying to third place in the race, his third podium in what is his first ever WorldSSP season.
Starting from pole position Sofuoglu had PJ Jacobsen pass in front of him as he entered the first corner but he soon got by his American rival and led across the start/finish line every lap from then on.
Kenan’s pace eased off in the final part of the race, allowing the advancing Jacobsen to draw closer for a time. Despite a well-used rear tyre Kenan upped his pace at the vital time and held on for a clear margin of victory of 1.569 seconds. This was Kenan’s third race win of the year.
In his first ride at Donington Park for some years, and his first on a Supersport machine at the English venue, Krummenacher found most of the pace he had just missed out on in qualifying. He ended raceday in third place, just 3.775 seconds from his team-mate Sofuoglu.
In the championship itself Sofuoglu extended his lead to 26 points over Krummenacher, with Kenan now on 121 points and Randy on 95. Randy is 19 points ahead of overall third place rider PJ Jacobsen, who was second in the Donington race today. Kawasaki leads the Manufacturers’ Standings by 25 points.
The next round will take place at Misano in Italy, with raceday on June 19th.
Kenan Sofuoglu stated: “Today was a good day and everything worked very well, except for the cooler conditions. I immediately took the lead because PJ was slow in font of me. I passed him and tried to pull a gap and the plan worked very well. With the last five or six laps to go I started to slow down a little bit because the left side of the tyre was worn. I saw that PJ was coming closer so I started to push again and it worked out well. I am very happy to win again. I think PJ had less of a problem than me with the tyres because he was spinning a lot and when you spin you heat the tyre. My riding style is too smooth to heat the tyre but I am very happy because we took a Superpole win, a winning race and 25 points. You cannot ask for more so a big thanks to my Puccetti team as they did a really great job without any mistakes and we won.”
Randy Krummenacher stated: “I am happy to be back on the podium because the last time was in Motorland Aragon, which feels like a long time ago. It was good to be back up there after Imola and Malaysia which were not that good, and so I can be really pleased with a third place. At the end of the race I missed a step to find Kenan and he was really strong, especially at the beginning of the race. I was pushing hard and at the end I also tried to stay with PJ and attack him but he was so strong at the end. I said, ‘Ok, let’s take the third and bring it home.’ This is a good result and I have more confidence for Misano. I know this track in Italy a bit better. Here, I have to say my riding is not at its best. Some racing lines I could do better but I gave my best. On other tracks I can be faster.”
The next best Kawasaki riders were both part time ESS riders, who only race at the European-based rounds. Alessandro Zaccone (San Carlo Team Italia Kawasaki) was 12th while Illia Mikhalchik (DS Junior Team Kawasaki) was 13th. Another ESS rider, Axel Bassani (San Carlo Team Italia Kawasaki), was 17th, just out of the points.
More, from a press release issued by Honda:
Jacobsen takes second at Donington to claim best result of the season
Round 7 – UK
Donington Park, United Kingdom
PJ Jacobsen has completed the seventh round of the 2016 FIM Supersport Race with a second place finish in the 20-lap race that took place at Donington Park in the UK. This is the best race result for Jacobsen so far in 2016, with the Honda WorldSSP rider now third in the Championship standings with five races still left to be contested in the season.
Jacobsen had a good start from second place on the grid and, after leading the race for half of the opening lap, he was overtaken by current series leader Sofuoglu, who was able to pull away and put a two-second gap between himself and last year’s Vice Champion. PJ was able to hold on to second place from a determined Randy Krummenacher, who tried without success to get past the American.
As the race entered its final quarter, Jacobsen was constantly the quickest rider on track; he was able to consolidate second place in the late stages, while trying at the same time to have one last push victory. The young American was able to narrow the gap to the lead to 1.2s at the start of the penultimate lap, but despite the effort, he ran out of time to complete the comeback.
Patrick Jacobsen 2
2nd
At the beginning of the race I let Sofuoglu get away a bit too much, because honestly I thought that tyre wear would have been higher than it turned out to be in the end. With seven laps to go I started pushing to try and bridge the gap to Kenan but two laps afterwards I almost had a big highside and that told me I was on the tyre limit already. I did all I could but obviously it didn’t pay off, but I want to thank the guys for their amazing effort, because we’re getting there and we’re back in the game. I believe that from now on we’ll have the chance to be at the sharp end of the field at every track.
Pieter Breddels
Technical Manager
PJ did a good job in keeping calm despite seeing Sofuoglu pulling away and Krummenacher getting closer. In the final stages he did his best to get back near the lead, but it was simply a bit too late. He rode a solid race and that’s his best result of the season so far, which put him back to third in the standings. We’re pretty happy with our weekend and we are now looking forward to some more of the same at Misano. It’s good to be back on the podium but we must keep the momentum going and be up there on regular basis.