2007 FIM Supersport World Championship Brno, Czech Republic July 22, 2007 Race Results: 1. Kenan SOFUOGLU (Honda CBR600RR), 18 laps, 38:09.132 2. Craig JONES (Honda CBR600RR), -11.313 seconds 3. Fabien FORET (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -17.527 seconds 4. Massimo ROCCOLI (Yamaha YZF-R6), -17.566 seconds 5. Josh BROOKES (Honda CBR600RR), -18.109 seconds 6. Katsuaki FUJIWARA (Honda CBR600RR), -20.163 seconds 7. David CHECA (Yamaha YZF-R6), -20.541 seconds 8. Sebastien CHARPENTIER (Honda CBR600RR), -23.448 seconds 9. Sebastien GIMBERT (Yamaha YZF-R6), -23.855 seconds 10. Barry VENEMAN (Suzuki GSX-R600), -25.863 seconds 11. Vesa KALLIO (Suzuki GSX-R600), -25.961 seconds 12. Jason O’HALLORAN (Yamaha YZF-R6), -32.323 seconds 13. Broc PARKES (Yamaha YZF-R6), -33.714 seconds 14. Lorenzo ALFONSI (Honda CBR600RR), -34.462 seconds 15. Gianluca NANNELLI (Ducati 749R), -34.578 seconds 18. Javier FORES (Honda CBR600RR), -38.584 seconds 25. Pere RIBA (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -54.672 seconds, crash 26. Robbin HARMS (Honda CBR600RR), -1 lap, DNF, crash 29. Gergo TALMACSI (Yamaha YZF-R6),-9 laps, DNF, retired Supersport World Championship Point Standings (after 9 of 13 races): 1. Sofuoglu, 186 points 2. Foret, 116 points 3. Fujiwara, 87 points 4. Harms, 70 points 5. Anthony West, 66 points 6. Roccoli, 59 points 7. Veneman, 56 points 8. Parkes, 50 points 9. Jones, 45 points 10. Nannelli, 44 points More, from a press release issued by Honda: World Supersport and Superbike Championships 2007 Round 9, Brno Czech Republic Round Brno Race Report 20 – 22 July 2007 World Supersport Round 9 of 13 Attendance 55,000 all weekend Temperature: Air: 27°C Ground: 43°C Conditions: Dry, very windy SOFUOGLU WINS NUMBER SIX AT BRNO Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) extended his championship lead to an impressive 70 points after scoring a convincing start-to-finish victory in the 18-lap World Supersport Championship race at Brno. His sixth win in nine races came after he had scored pole position on Saturday, with a new Supersport track best of 2’04.871 seconds, and he also set a new lap record in the race, with at 2’06.089. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, Sofuoglu’s latest success takes Honda to a 61-point lead and rookie WSS rider Craig Jones (Reve Ekerold Honda CBR600RR) made the Brno race a Honda 1-2, with his and his team’s first podium finish in this category. Katsuaki Fujiwara (Althea Honda Team CBR600RR) finished in sixth place, after qualifying tenth, suffering from a lack of testing time that the tyre development teams enjoyed at Brno recently. He maintains his push for a top-three championship finish, as he sits third, on 87 points. Sebastien Charpentier (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) started the race in second place and held it for some time, but he was eventually swamped by other riders and posted an eventual eighth. He was fifth in qualifying, and now sits 12th overall in the championship standings, on 37 points. Fujiwara’s team-mate Lorenzo Alfonsi (Althea Honda Team CBR600RR), suffered three crashes in practice at Brno, and thus started 19th on a grid of 37. He battled back to score points for 14th in the race, and is only one place and one point behind Charpentier in the overall standings. The task of qualifying and choosing race tyres was complicated immensely at Brno as day one was hot, day two slightly less so and raceday was cool and very windy by comparison, with temperatures of 27°C recorded during the race. Sofuoglu, however, was on fire throughout the Brno weekend, and in scoring his latest win, he now only needs another strong performance at Brands Hatch race in two weeks time to clinch his first and Honda’s sixth straight Riders’ title in the 600cc division. “The race was not easy but I am very happy because this weekend I have done something for the first time in my career,” said Sofuoglu. “For the whole weekend, in every free practice and qualifying session, I was fastest, I got pole position, the race win and set a new lap record for the circuit. Normally this is a very difficult thing to do and I am so pleased that I have achieved it. I had a very good test here and I had a good feeling about the weekend. We had a great set-up and everything has turned out perfectly. I want to thank everyone that has supported me the team, the sponsors, my family. I am almost there now there are just four races to go and if I can get one more race win I have the championship. I need to keep my focus and hopefully I can do it a Brands Hatch.” Fujiwara realised there were reasons why he was only able to fight his way into the top six today, but was disappointed with the results of his labours. “This was a very difficult race because as soon as I closed the gas the rear end would slide,” said ‘Kats’. “So I had to ride to keep my position, which ended up sixth. We didn’t test here so we had to be quick with our set-up and the track temperature has been different each day, so that made things even more complicated. I used a medium tyre on the back but I think everyone was on the same tyres, so it was more to do with set-up.” Charpentier felt he was unable to stay in the leading group because of set-up issues that are proving difficult to resolve. “It was not an easy race for me,” said Charpentier. “After four or five laps I lost the grip in the front and rear. I think that my riding style is wrong for the set-up of the bike and at the moment I cannot find a good direction. When I lose the grip I am unable to keep up with the pack and just couldn’t push hard enough. The situation is very difficult to for me to accept, but I have to look ahead. I really like Brands Hatch and I know that everybody will work hard to find a solution to this problem for the next race.” The result of Alfonsi’s weekend of work was determined by his qualifying performance, and a compromise in set-up which was largely forced on him, as he explained. “Three times I crashed in qualifying, and always because of the front, so that held me back on the grid placings,” said Alfonsi. “I had to use the medium solution but it was not so good for my style. The race was not so bad, considering I started in 19th position. I had to overtake people step-by-step. If I had started in eighth place I would have been in a much better position.”