Electronics foil Sheridan challenge PTR HONDA’S Sheridan Morais challenge at the ninth round of the World Supersport Championship at Silverstone in the UK was scuppered by an electronic problem right from the opening lap. After showing promising form in first qualifying and then being sixth fastest in warm up, Sheridan was hoping for a strong result at one of his and the team’s favourite tracks, but eventually finished a disappointed 19th. Sheridan said: “Right from the first lap I knew something was wrong. I went to pass a couple of riders at the end of the straight and it was clear the electronics were not working. I tried resetting them but that didn’t work, so I did the best I could for the rest of the race.” Luca Marconi finished just behind Morais in a respectable 20th place on his comeback from a broken arm. From half race distance the Italian felt a lot of pain in his arm and decided not to risk doing anything to aggravate the injury. David Linortner in 23rd found new confidence in his bike, while Matt Davies in 25th and Nacho Calero in 27th enjoyed racing each other and getting solid finishes under their belts. The next round of the Championship is at the Nurburgring in Germany on September 1st. PTR Honda’s Simon Buckmaster said: “We have had a very tough day after such a promising start to the weekend. Sheridan had the pace to challenge at the front and a rare electronics problem let us all down. But we will take the positives that we know he has the ability and bike to run well up the field and look to the next round to make amends. “Luca rode bravely and I think has come back from injury more determined than ever. His injury limited his performance today but he will be fine for Nurburgring and his lap time here with us was over three seconds faster than his previous best at the circuit, which is promising. “David, Matt and Nacho all finished and we will continue to work with them to improve their position and help them to compete in the World Championship. “A final word to all our UK sponsors for their support and joining us at the racing today, we really appreciate their support!” Race result 1. Kenan Sofuoglu TUR Mahi India Kawasaki ZX-6R 17 laps 2. Sam Lowes GBR Yakhnich Yamaha YZF-R6 +9.501s 3. Fabien Foret FRA Mahi India Kawasaki ZX-6R +12.165s 4. Kev Coghlan RUS DMC Lorenzini Kawasaki ZX-6R +12.259s 5. Christian Iddon GBR ParkinGO MV Agusta F3 +12.491s 6. Roberto Rolfo ITA ParkinGO MV Agusta F3 +12.590s 19. Sheridan Morais RSA PTR Honda CBR600RR +43.186s 20. Luca Marconi ITA PTR Honda CBR600RR +43.380s 23. David Linortner AUT PTR Honda CBR600RR +1m 00.182s 25. Matt Davies AUS PTR Honda CBR600RR +1m 16.379s 27. Nacho Calero Perez ESP PTR Honda CBR600RR +1m 16.747s Championship positions after 9 rounds 1: Lowes 160 2: Sofuoglu 131 3: Foret 101 4: VD Mark 80 5: Zanetti 73 6: Scassa 66 12: MORAIS, PTR HONDA 36 19: MARCONI, PTR HONDA 17 27: LINORTNER, PTR HONDA 2 More, from a press release issued by Pata Honda Supersport Team: Pata Honda riders battle for Silverstone points Michael van der Mark and Lorenzo Zanetti each had to battle hard for points in today’s ninth round World Supersport race at Silverstone in the UK, which was won by Turkish rider Kenan Sofuoglu. Starting from sixth place on the grid, 20-year-old van der Mark got a steady start and had climbed to fifth before his Honda CBR600RR touched another rider’s machine, forcing the Dutch ace off the track at the fast Copse corner. Van der Mark re-joined the race in 22nd position but showed impressive pace and control to pass many riders on his way back to the top ten. Lorenzo Zanetti had his own problems to contend with, not least of which were injuries sustained in his 255kph crash at Moscow Raceway in Russia two weeks ago. The 26-year-old Italian had thought it might be impossible to participate at Silverstone but sheer determination saw him take enough points to retain his fifth place in the overall championship standings. Michael van der Mark – 9th I made a stupid mistake when I had good pace and we could have been fighting for the podium. I am really sorry for the mistake, but the pace was great and we had found a good direction with the bike this weekend. I was really angry when I rejoined the race and I was really fast in this part. I hope that we can be back on the podium at the next race in Nurburgring. Lorenzo Zanetti – 11th I am really, really tired, but quite happy with this result. Before this weekend, I thought I would not be able to race here so 11th position is a bit like a victory. I raced for myself and for Andrea Antonelli and now I have a month for recovery. The last two weeks have been difficult and now I am looking forward to a rest. I want to arrive at Nurburgring in good condition so that I can finish the season really strongly. Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator Lorenzo’s result is almost more than we could have hoped for because of his injuries. He’s quite confident that if he had been fit he could have battled nearer the front. The break will do him some good but he did a great job here today. Michael had terrific pace but went off the track after a little mistake. He was passing a lot of people and doing really fast lap times after that, when he was as fast as the two guys at the front. The speed was there to take him to the podium but we’ll have to take what happened and try again in Germany. 2013 World Supersport championship, round nine Silverstone, UK – 5.902km, 16 laps Race result: 1 Kenan Sofuoglu (TUR) Kawasaki 2 Sam Lowes (GBR) Yamaha 3 Fabien Foret (FRA) Kawasaki 4 Kevin Coghlan (GBR) Kawasaki 5 Christian Iddon (GBR) MV Agusta 6 Robbie Rolfo (ITA) MV Agusta 9 Michael van der Mark (NED) Pata Honda 11 Lorenzo Zanetti (ITA) Pata Honda Championship points after nine of 14 rounds: 1 Lowes 160, 2 Sofuoglu 131, 3 Foret 101, 4 van der Mark 80, 5 Zanetti 73, 6 Scassa 66. Next round: Nurburgring, Germany – 30 August – 1 September More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki: Sofuoglu Wins And Foret Takes A Podium At Silverstone! WSS, Silverstone, Great Britain Kenan Sofuoglu and Fabien Foret (Kawasaki Mahi Racing Team India) scored a win and third respectively after 16-laps of WSS action at Silverstone, with Sofuoglu making up ground in the championship Only Sofuoglu and Sam Lowes had the pace to lead and they gapped the following riders comprehensively to fight it out right to the very last lap. Close to the end, after Lowes had taken the lead, both riders entered a slow hairpin and touched, with Lowes crashing, but restarting to finish second. Sofuoglu took the win, the 24th of his career. It was Sofuoglu’s second race win in succession, his third of the season and takes him to within 29 points of championship leader Lowes. Foret battled through from a third row starting place to take a clever third place, holding off the charging local rider Kevin Coghlan (Kawasaki DMC-Lorenzini) which had his best race of the year today, in fourth place. Florian Marino (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) was held back after a potential podium performance in the early laps when he was hit by another rider, and his rear wheel alignment adjuster was damaged by contact with another rider. He finished eighth. Luca Scassa (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) overcame his foot injury and a lowly starting position to go 13th, while David Salom (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) placed 15th. Kenan Sofuoglu: “My first two laps were very good but after that my rear tyre spun on the rim and this affected me in the race. I lost my best speed and I just tried to control Sam. In the last lap we were really fighting and I thought maybe something was going to happen. I understood he wanted to win too much and I wanted to win too much. When Sam passed me on the last lap we both ran away from the track, and neither of us had an ideal line. Both of us entered the next corner on a very tight line and I touched him. He crashed and I am sad for that. I will still have to be lucky to win the title because of the points gap, but I hope I can win more races.” Fabien Foret: “I was riding hard today but starting from the third row is always going to make it difficult. It was good to get on the podium and we had a good strong race today. I started the weekend in a difficult position and I took what I could take on raceday. I hope I can be much closer in the Nürburgring at the next round.”