FIM Supersport World Championship Miller Motorsports Park Tooele, Utah May 31, 2009 Provisional Race Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Kenan Sofuoglu (Hon CBR600RR), 18 laps 2. Eugene Laverty (Hon CBR600RR), -0.368 second 3. Cal Crutchlow (Yam YZF-R6), -0.521 second 4. Joan Lascorz (Kaw ZX-6R), -1.833 seconds 5. Fabien Foret (Yam YZF-R6), -12.071 6. Garry McCoy (Tri Daytona 675), -18.108 7. Andrew Pitt (Hon CBR600RR), -25.912 8. Michele Pirro (Yam YZF-R6), -26.867 9. Matthieu Lagrive (Hon CBR600RR), -30.411 10. Anthony West (Hon CBR600RR), -31.393 11. Doni Tata Pradita (Yam YZF-R6), -32.206 12. Miguel Praia (Hon CBR600RR), -32.572 13. Katsuaki Fujiwara (Kaw ZX-6R), -35.491 14. Barry Veneman (Suz GSX-R600), -37.164 15. Gianluca Vizziello (Hon CBR600RR), -39.041 16. Gianluca Nannelli (Tri Daytona 675), -40.443, crash 17. Michael Laverty (Yam YZF-R6), -51.153 18. Arie Vos (Hon CBR600RR), -52.658 19. Jesco Gunther (Hon CBR600RR), -54.437 20. Alessandro Polita (Suz GSX-R600), -71.500 21. Russell Holland (Hon CBR600RR), -71.668 22. Yaddick Guerra (Yam YZF-R6), -78.385 23. Massimo Roccoli (Hon CBR600RR), -81.462, mechanical 24. Oleg Pianykh (Yam YZF-R6), -93.636 25. Andrew Nelson (Yam YZF-R6), -100.570 26. Chip Yates (Suz GSX-R600), -1 lap 27. Robbin Harms (Hon CBR600RR), -1 lap, DNF, mechanical 28. Patrik Vostarek (Hon CBR600RR), -11 laps, DNF, mechanical 29. Melissa Paris (Yam YZF-R6), -12 laps, DNF, mechanical 30. Mark Aitchison (Hon CBR600RR), -18 laps, DNF, crash World Championship Point Standings (after 7 of 14 races): 1. Crutchlow, 135 points 2. Laverty, 126 3. Sofuoglu, 108 4. TIE, Pitt/Lascorz, 73 6. West, 66 7. Foret, 55 8. Aitchison, 50 9. Pirro, 48 10. McCoy, 39 More, from a press release issued by Parkalgar Honda: Strong second for Laverty in the USA PARKALGAR HONDA racer Eugene Laverty took a well-earned second place at the seventh round of the World Supersport Championship at Miller Motorsports Park in the USA, while his team mate Miguel Praia scored a season best equalling 12th. Eugene led for 17 of the 18-laps and was hit and passed with only a handful of corners to go by Honda’s Kenan Sofuoglu who won the race. Miguel, still recovering from a crash during practice, grew in confidence as the race developed. The eighth round of the Championship and the start of the second half of the season – is at Misano in San Marino on Sunday June 21st. Eugene: “I didn’t expect Kenan to pass where he did, I was already in the corner and I am just happy we both stayed on. We could easily have both ended on the deck when he hit me he bounced off me and stayed on. If I hadn’t been there he’d have kept going and ended up in the Salt Lake. Fair play to him though, he’s had bad moves made on him in previous rounds. Initially I didn’t see who had passed me and got on the gas straight away and then saw it was Kenan and breathed a sigh of relief it was not Cal Crutchlow. It was most important to beat Cal here and we did that so I am not too disappointed in the result.” Miguel: “I finished so close to the top 10 just one-second away. It was a tough race but in the end I am very pleased with the job that the Parkalgar Honda team did to provide me with a great race bike; and also to the doctors for helping me to get on the bike and race. Yesterday morning I missed the session because I couldn’t ride after my practice crash late on Friday. This is a great result and I did everything I could but simply didn’t have the energy to do anymore. My Parkalgar Honda is so good; this is what made the result possible, maybe my best race ever. Missing the session on Saturday hurt us at this new circuit but well done to the team and I will move on and go for the top 10 at the next round.” Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “That was a hard move by Kenan on Eugene but our congratulations go to Ten Kate Honda for the race win. We are happy as Eugene has now closed the gap to just nine points in the Championship chase. Well done to Miguel for racing so hard after his crash and equalling his best result of the year. He is knocking on the door of the top 10 and it will come soon.” More, from a press release issued by Team YZF Yamaha: Splendid 11th position for Doni Tata Pradita Excellent race today for the young Yamaha Indonesia rider who finishes 11th after a great fight with riders having a top reputation like Anthony West and Robbin Harms. This is the best ever result for Doni who was racing for the first time on this American track. The warm up session went quite well on Sunday morning for Doni with the 17th time in 1’54.905. Starting from the 21st position on the grid, he was 15th after the end of the first lap! He moved to 14th on lap 5 after passing Barry Veneman. Then on the next lap he overtook Vizziello for 13th position. From the group of good riders behind him, only Anthony West could follow him. When you know that West was riding MotoGP last year, it gives an idea of the performance. On lap 15 (on a total of 18), he was 0.8 behind Robbin Harms, with West right behind him. On lap 16, he was 14th after West passed him, fighting now with Harms. Finally, Doni Tata Pradita finished 11th, his best result of the year so far. This is a great achievement, a magnificent progress and a very positive point for the rest of the season. Kenan Sofuoglu won the race on a Honda, in front of Eugene Laverty and Cal Crutchlow. Doni Tata Pradita: “I am very happy today. I had a good start and I was with a group of fast riders. In the first corner, I was about 18th. I pushed hard and I kept the same lap times. The end was not so good because of technology. I don’t have traction control so in the last 7 laps I had many slides with the rear. I was worrying not to crash. When West passed me, it was not possible to follow him because he had a better top speed. I tried to catch Harms in front of me. Once I tried to pass him on the inside, but it was like gambling. I had a big slide of the rear and I was lucky not to crash. This race was very good, I am very happy. We need to improve more. I am happy with my good lap times. Thank you to my mechanics that did a great job. Thank you to my Mom who was preying for me to get this result. This is a good experience for me.” Team-manager Martial Garcia: “Congratulations to Doni for this great result. He proves that he has a lot of talent and that he is now part of the good riders. The confidence that Yamaha Indonesia put in Doni is rewarded today with this world class result. Of course, we still have to progress together to improve again and again the results. Thank you very much to Doni and to the team for this great achievement.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Yamaha Supersport riders take a top five and a podium in the Salt Lake sunshine It was a hard fought race at the Miller Motorsport Park today for Cal Crutchlow as he pulled out all the stops to challenge for the win. Crutchlow was tucked in behind race leader Eugene Laverty for the majority of the race, followed by Lascorz and Sofuoglu. Never more than a bike length away Crutchlow made several attempts to out-brake the Parkalgar Honda rider at the end of the straight but couldn’t get past. AS the race drew to a close, just one lap from the end Sofuoglu put a close pass on Crutchlow, taking the second then passing Laverty for the lead. Crutchlow held on to third to take a well deserved podium for his efforts. Team-mate Foret suffered from a less than perfect start to the race, dropping a couple of places before working his way back up to seventh by lap 11. B y lap 4 he had worked his way up to fifth, taking Nannelli and McCoy in the process. Foret held on to the position to take fifth under the chequered flag. Crutchlow leaves Miller still leading the championship on 135 points, with a nine point advantage over second placed rider Laverty. Foret heads to Misano in seventh position on 55 points, 11 points behind sixth placed West. Cal Crutchlow Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team (3rd) “For me it was our worst race weekend so far and we still managed to finish third and only a second off the win so I’m pretty pleased to be honest. I could easily have finished fifth or sixth today so to finish third and just behind Eugene wasn’t so bad in the end. We’ll have to go back to the drawing board for the next race in Misano, a circuit I don’t know but I’m looking forward to it to be honest. I think we and the team did a good job this weekend.” Fabien Foret Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team (5th) “For most of the race was feeling pretty lonely, my start was not that great, I was pushed out to the edge of the track by another rider so I came into the first corner in a not very good position and was in tenth I think. Then I worked hard to overtake some guys, I was fast enough with good grip to get past them but then it was too late so I was just by myself. I was just doing my own race, pushing but not fighting for a podium, just looking to get the points in. I’m not so happy but at least I take away more points. We head to the next one and see what happens.” Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team Manager “it was an interesting race, my heart rate was quite high I have to say. Eugene put in a really good pace and I think Cal needed everything to keep up. Still he went better and better and had a good feeling on the end and was preparing on the last lap to try and pass somewhere but then Sofuoglu made a move on him and he had to settle for third. Sofuoglu then made a move on Laverty and it was quite a hard one so it could have ended differently, I think he was lucky to stay on the bike. I think all three were happy to be on the podium. For Fabien it was a bit of a disappointing start, 11th on the first lap so making it back to fifth was good. I think he enjoyed the ride but for some bits it was a bit lonely, but to get fifth and take some points is not so bad.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki: Lascorz Just Misses A Podium Spot WSS, Salt Lake City, USA, 1 June 2009 Provec Motocard.com Kawasaki rider Joan Lascorz started the 18-lap Supersport race at Miller from pole position, but he was not quite able to keep pace with the leading riders in the final laps. He had to settle for fourth in the race, and fifth in the championship standings, equal on 73 points with Andrew Pitt. Joan suffered a heavy crash in the morning warm-up that left him with a sore right foot for the race itself, but it only made its presence felt on the final few laps. Katsuaki Fujiwara was unlucky to have a bad start in his race, and had to work his way back through the field to finish his raceday 13th, scoring points all the same. Fujiwara is 13th in the rankings, on 29 points, only one point behind the 12th place rider. The next round is at Misano, a track that should suit both riders and machines, on June 21. Joan Lascorz: “My foot is not so bad, only in the last four of five laps did it cause me any problem. Sofuoglu passed me very fast and when he went by me I tried to stay with him. I made my fast lap then, but I could not stay with him, and he went on to win. My tyres were OK, and maybe the settings in this race we found were good for the chassis but we needed a little more from the engine. That was a small difference but we have a new bike this year, and it still has great potential.” Katsuaki Fujiwara: “Normally I don’t have so many problems in the start but today it seemed that the engine was revving very high but I was not going so fast away from the line, so maybe there was some slip. I was about 20th or 21st into the first corner. The bike is better but we could not move forward so fast because of where we were after one lap. The suspension was good and the chassis set-up as well.” More, from a press release issued by ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Racing: Team ParkinGo Triumph BE1 Racing captured the sixth place with Garry McCoy who put on a good performance. The Australian confirmed his good form after doing well in practice in the first two days. The Australian rider had a great start and got in fourth place right away. He had a fast pace just as the front runners but made a small mistake and lost contact with the leading pack. Without being able to use the wake in the faster part of the track, he could not catch up with the front runners. As a consequence, halfway into the race he decided to settle for the result and finished at 18 seconds from the winner. On the other hand, Gianluca Nannelli did very well until the last lap when he slipped as he was fighting for the fifth place with Fabien Foret. The Italian rider was not very effective at the start, but after a few corners managed to catch up with the group that was fighting for the fourth place. However, he unfortunately crashed with one lap left in the race. GIANLUCA NANNELLI | Triumph Daytona 675 | 16th: “I’m really disappointed I didn’t score the result I was hoping for. However, I did prove both here and in South Africa that I’m in good form and I can fight for the top spots. I was desperate to do well today and I went over the top. Nonetheless, I hope to redeem myself in the next round at Misano”. GARRY McCOY | Triumph Daytona 675 | 6th: “With this result I got in the top 10 in the standings but, most importantly we are slowly closing the gap on the top riders. Unfortunately, today I realised that halfway into the race I just couldn’t catch up and decided to maintain the pace, a choice that brought us some more points”. GIULIANO ROVELLI – TEAM MANAGER: “If we had finished with both riders in sixth and seventh place, it would’ve been fantastic but I’m happy nonetheless. We did well in both practice and race, we got our first front row with Nannelli and halfway into the season we have McCoy in the top 10 in the standings. So, overall it was a positive season up to now. The team will now return to Italy and will keep working and hopefully be even more competitive at Misano in 20 days time”. More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: Kenan Sofuoglu won today’s seventh round World Supersport championship race at Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City, USA. It was the Turkish rider’s second win of the year, following his success in the season opener at Phillip Island Australia. Starting from sixth place on the grid, Sofuoglu settled quickly into a rhythm behind series leaders Cal Crutchlow and Eugene Laverty before pouncing on the final lap and passing both his championship rivals, with a particularly forceful move past Laverty for the lead just three turns from home. Sofuoglu’s Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Andrew Pitt, started from the back of the grid after a crash yesterday prevented him setting a qualifying time. The Australian demonstrated the positive steps forward made by his crew with the CBR600RR by putting in a stunning performance and finishing in seventh place. Kenan Souoglu P1 I am so very happy to be back on the top step of the podium again. Our results have not been so good recently but we made some really big changes to the bike this weekend in America; even in warm-up this morning we were changing the set-up but I knew then that I had a bike that I could win with. Cal and Eugene were really fast today and it was very difficult to catch them after I had finally passed Lascorz. The last lap was really good though I think I might have touched with Eugene on the way through and you could say it was a hard move. But racing is a hard sport. It was a great feeling to win again and I have to say a really big thank you to the team for working so hard for me. Andrew Pitt P7 It’s not a bad result considering where I started, but I made too many mistakes getting past Fabien Foret and found it hard to get consistent lap times. We made some changes to the bike for warm up which worked well, so I really think we have a good direction to go in. I got a good start in the race and found myself on the outside of turn one. But everyone braked early up the inside so I was able to let it run a little longer. I could see the leaders for the first four or five laps which was good, and all in all, it was a pretty good race. Ronald ten Kate team manager What a team, what a day, what a win and what a great rider! We’ve obviously had to dial out a lot of issues recently and then we made some pretty radical changes this weekend, which only started to work during warm-up this morning. In the race, Kenan showed what a great rider he is if we can give him a competitive machine. After all the poor results and hard work recently, this feels like a maiden podium. Really big compliments to Andrew, too, who started from the back row with a really sore head and body after his crash yesterday. To finish seventh just shows what a fighter he is as well. The whole crew has done a fantastic job and they’ve never let go of their confidence, inspiration and belief that we are a winning team. Now we are back on track. More, from a press release issued by Stiggy Racing Honda: West salvages low qualifying results with top ten finish The seventh race in the Supersport World Championship started with a delay at the Miller Motorsports Park in Utah today, due to a red-flagged and re-started Superbike race earlier. The Stiggy Racing Honda pairing of Anthony West and Gianluca Vizziello had been struggling throughout the weekend to get their bikes on competitive form for the 18-lap long Supersport race. West qualified a low 22nd on the grid in yesterday’s session, while team mate Vizziello came through just slightly better in 18th position. West came through the first lap in 18th position, and determinedly set out to launch the attack for a connection with the front group. He swiftly graduated through the field, with his best overtaking actions in the latter half of the race. Despite struggling to set competitive lap times in the qualifying sessions leading to race day, West posted his fastest lap of the weekend in the final minutes of the race while running on the last thread of his tyres. West managed to impressively salvage his performance over the weekend, and turned his low qualifying position into a top ten finish. Team mate Vizziello followed West’s progression forward through the field, but deteriorating grip of his tyres prevented him to push further as his lap times dropped down, he took 15th place at the flag. Anthony West, 10th: ” I am still not very happy with my results, even though it is good to come back from 22nd to tenth. It’s a position on the grid I should not hold in the first place. I struggled to find my confidence on the bike. At the end of the race, on used tyres, I felt a lot more comfortable than I have been all weekend. We have been able to improve the front of the bike, and I hope that marks a step in the right direction. The team is working very hard to prepare my a good package, so I hope I can turn it around for the next race. ” Gianluca Vizziello, 15th: ” I had a good start from my 18th place on the grid. Towards the end of the race I just lost all grip in my tyres, and my bike started to slide uncontrollably so I dropped back down to 17th position. It’s not what I had hoped for, and we will have to find some improvement for the next race. Johan Stigefelt, Team Manager: ” Anthony has made a huge step forward from his qualifying position to his finish. We have worked hard over the weekend to solve the issues and prepare him a better package. To see him push this hard to improve his position in the race is just something we have to be happy with. It shows us he is a fighter, and that we have made steps forward with the settings. Gianluca was fighting for a 12th position, but was struggling with the grip of his tyres in the last laps and dropped back in the list. We will set other targets for the next race, but for now I am more then happy. ” Results Supersport Race: 1. K. Sofuoglu 2. E. Laverty 3. C. Crutchlow 10. A. West 15. G. Vizziello Championship standings: 1. C. Crutchlow, 135 points 2. E. Laverty, 126 p 3. K. Sofuoglu, 108 p 6. A. West, 66 p 18. G. Vizziello, 10 p