World Supersport and Superbike Championships 2007 Round 13, Magny-Cours French Round Race Preview 5 – 7 October 2007 World Supersport Round 13 of 13 SOFUOGLU OUT TO MAKE YET MORE HISTORY Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) is aiming for nothing less than burning his name into the record books this weekend at the final round of the World Supersport Championship. He has already scored a record-equalling seven race victories in 2007, and has won the title by a record margin, but at the 4.411km Magny-Cours circuit he will be going for an unprecedented eighth win in a single year. Of the 27 races Sofuoglu has started to date in his relatively short WSS career, he has won nine and scored a total of 18 podiums, all on Honda machinery. His championship lead of 123 points is easily a record for the class, and may even be extended again after the final WSS race of the year. Sofuoglu has also helped Honda win the Manufacturers’ Championship, and Honda has now provided machinery for the last six Riders’ World Champions, all of whom came from the Ten Kate Honda stable. The roll of honour runs from Fabien Foret (2002), Chris Vermeulen (2003), Karl Muggeridge (2004), Sebastien Charpentier (2005 and 2006) to 23-year-old Sofuoglu. This year Sebastien Charpentier (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) has not reached the peaks that brought him his two titles in the recent past, but having set pole two pole position in the last three races, he is still a threat to any rider with ideas of victory at ‘Seb’s’ home track on Sunday. Katsuaki Fujiwara (Althea Honda Team CBR600RR) is still suffering from the left foot and ankle injury he sustained recently, but bravely fought to tenth at Vallelunga. He intends to defend his overall fourth place in the championship this weekend. His season has been blighted by injury and misfortune, often caused by other riders’ interventions, but he is still nine points from the threat of fifth place rider, Massimo Roccoli. Lorenzo Alfonsi (Althea Honda Team CBR600RR) is locked in a cutthroat fight for the last place inside the top ten, and despite being 14th in the rankings; he is only six points from tenth position. Sofuoglu’s feelings about the forthcoming race can be summed up by the fact that his previous ambition of scoring another win, after securing the championship at Brands Hatch, has now been modified to include winning a record making eighth race this weekend. “After winning the race at Vallelunga I cannot wait to get to Magny Cours,” said Sofuoglu. “I now have seven victories and I am so determined to get the last win of the season. I want to set the record of securing the most wins before I leave the series. I am so happy that I have been able to secure a sixth World Supersport Championship win for Ten Kate and Honda. I owe a lot to the team and to Honda. I have to give big thanks to all of the guys for their support and hard work this year. Now I just have to give them the final gift of an eighth race win this weekend.” History man Charpentier’s season has not been anything like he imagined it could be, especially after he became the first rider to win two World Championships in the 600cc class. But at Magny-Cours, his love for the track and his home support may be the key to his first podium of the year. “For sure, this season has been one of the most difficult of my career,” said Charpentier. “It started badly with the injury at Donington and I haven’t been able to pick it up. I have had some great results in qualifying and the team has been working incredibly hard to help me. I just hope that I can give them a good result this weekend. I love Magny Cours – it’s my home circuit and I have done well there in the past, so let’s see what happens on Sunday.” Fujiwara wants to make sure that he keeps his fourth place in the rankings, and his fighting qualities shine through in his unwillingness to admit that he cannot win the race and thus regain third in the series. “I will be much better for the Magny-Cours race,” said ‘Kats’. “I have a lot to do to try and get back to third place in the championship but until the last race, last lap, last corner, I will be trying my best. I like Magny-Cours, it is a good track for me, and my injury will be better by then, as I can now do more exercise.” Alfonsi fell from a points scoring position at the previous race in Vallelunga but is determined to get back into contention for tenth this weekend. “I’m really annoyed about the crash at Vallelunga because it was the spilled oil and not me that caused it,” said Alfonsi. “So at the final round I will only be thinking of making back absolutely as many points as possible. I want to sign-off 2007 on a high note.” World Superbike Round 13 of 13 TOSELAND READY, WILLING AND ABLE TO MAKE IT TITLE NUMBER TWO Despite losing ground in the championship chase for two races in succession, James Toseland (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) enters the final round of the series with a more than healthy 29-point lead, and the best haul of 2008 race wins, an impressive eight. The competition for wins in 2007 has been immense and three riders are still in the hunt for ultimate glory. Toseland’s Magny-Cours weekend demands that he must be fast and clever to win the title, but he knows all about winning at the final race of the year at the Magny-Cours circuit. In 2004 Toseland won the last race to take the crown, despite a points deficit to the championship leader in the build up to the finale. This time around it is the other riders under pressure to perform, with Toseland needing only to outscore his rivals to win Honda’s first Rider’s championship since 2002. Toseland currently has 396 points; Max Biaggi has 367 and Noriyuki Haga 363. All other riders are out of the running for ultimate honours now. In the Manufacturers’ championship things could hardly be closer, with Honda ahead by only three points after 23 individual races. (It should be 24, but race two at Silverstone was cancelled because of torrential rain). Such has been the quality of the battles at the front this year that four manufacturers are still in with an arithmetical chance of the championship win itself. Roberto Rolfo (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) is now well capable of improving on his current eighth place in the championship, but what the ever-improving rider from Turin wants most of all is to score a podium before the season is out. He has 177 points now, five down on Ruben Xaus and 15 down on Lorenzo Lanzi – with 50 points available to any rider who can win both races on Sunday. Michel Fabrizio (DFX Corse Honda CBR1000RR) has already stepped on a podium this season, at Brno, but has been unable to find the consistency in man or machine set-up to allow him to match the likes of Toseland and Rolfo. He is tenth, on 123 points. Karl Muggeridge (Alto Evolution Honda CBR1000RR) has not had an easy season in any way but at Magny-Cours, his season best in any individual 2007 race – ninth – may well be under threat on improving machinery. Yoann Tiberio (Alto Evolution Honda CBR1000RR) makes his third appearance in SBK racing for his Honda team, and a special one at that, as he will be running in front of his home fans. Luca Morelli (DFX Corse Honda CBR1000RR) just missed points at the previous round in Vallelunga, and will thus be desperate to score more, to move from nine points in total to double digits. Toseland acknowledges that the last few meetings have been anything but normal for a year in which he has been the clear top rider, but he is now out to make the arithmetic of the championship irrelevant when he gets to France. “This has been one of the most up and down rollercoaster rides of a championship that I’ve ever competed in,” said Toseland. “The pace at the front of World Superbike this year has been incredible and it’s been a pleasure racing against the two Troys, Nori, Max and the rest of the field. The racing has been fantastic, but I fly on Wednesday to France with only one intention – to win my second World Superbike Championship in Magny-Cours, where I secured the title in 2004.” Rolfo has necessarily more humble ambitions, but nonetheless just as fervently held ones as team-mate Toseland. “I have enjoyed this season and the CBR1000RR has definitely improved my riding style,” said Rolfo. “I like Magny-Cours and my results there last year were OK. I hope I can do well to make up for race one in Vallelunga when a burst tyre forced me out. Race two went a lot better and I had a good feeling on the bike so I want to continue this in France and end the season strongly – and I really want to score my first podium.” Fabrizio is looking to ensure he ends the season in the top ten. “Two good races will be vital for me in France,” said the 2003 European Superstock Champion. “My aim will be the podium, I just have to work as well as I can in qualifying and get a good grid position. The first corners at Magny-Cours can be very difficult, but the track itself is OK for me.” Muggeridge is ready to make 2007 a memory by securing impressive finishes in the last two races, and hopes the track will be kinder to his machine’s electronics package than Vallelunga was. “Magny-Cours should be good for us this year, better than Vallelunga for sure,” said Muggeridge. “We paid for our lack of electronics on the bike there but it should be less of an issue in the next race. Magny-Cours is OK, not the best track we go to but it has some good points. After all the dramas of the season, I want to post two good finishes.” Morelli was an SBK rookie before joining the DFX squad mid-season. Since then he has proved capable of points scores, and now looks to France to secure more. “It would be a dream to secure points in both the last two races,” said Morelli. “It would be great to score over ten points all in, because this has been a tough year. I have learned a lot from the team in a short time and I hope to put it all into action in the last two races.” Tiberio hopes a home track will bring him luck, and despite his relative inexperience his team have praised his approach in stepping-up to SBK racing, adding to his positive outlook for a high-pressure race. “I am taking a lot of confidence into the final race of the year,” said Tiberio. “It is my home track and I know it well, so I think I can make a good result. To score points in the last two races is a good thing to think of when I get to Magny-Cours.” Sunday’s races take place at 12.00 and 15.30 CET, and the next stops for the top competitors will be the official test in Qatar, 25 to 27 November.