FIM Supersport World Championship Monza, Italy May 13, 2007 Race Results: 1. Kenan SOFUOGLU (Honda CBR600RR), 16 laps, 29:44.471 2. Fabien FORET (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -3.992 seconds 3. Anthony WEST (Yamaha YZF-R6), -4.043 seconds 4. Gianluca NANNELLI (Ducati 749R), -4.598 seconds 5. Barry VENEMAN (Suzuki GSX-R600), -8.348 seconds 6. Katsuaki FUJIWARA (Honda CBR600RR), -10.323 seconds 7. Yoann TIBERIO (Honda CBR600RR), -22.621 seconds 8. Lorenzo ALFONSI (Honda CBR600RR), -25.613 seconds 9. Davide SALOM (Yamaha YZF-R6), -25.668 seconds 10. Simone SANNA (Honda CBR600RR), -25.702 seconds 11. Massimo ROCCOLI (Yamaha YZF-R6), -25.857 seconds 12. Pere RIBA (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -26.562 seconds 13. Vesa KALLIO (Suzuki GSX-R600), -26.618 seconds 14. David CHECA (Yamaha YZF-R6), -31.074 seconds 15. Joan LASCORZ (Honda CBR600RR), -33.737 seconds 26. Sebastien CHARPENTIER (Honda CBR600RR), -3 laps, DNF, crash 32. Chris PERIS (Yamaha YZF-R6), -11 laps, DNF, mechanical 33. Broc PARKES (Yamaha YZF-R6), -12 laps, DNF, mechanical 34. Robbin HARMS (Honda CBR600RR), -13 laps, DNF, crash 2007 Supersport World Championship Point Standings (after 6 of 13 races): 1. Sofuoglu, 145 points 2. Foret, 87 points 3. Fujiwara, 53 points 4. Nannelli, 43 points 5. Veneman, 41 points 6. Pitt, 40 points 7. Harms, 39 points 8. Salom, 34 points 9. Roccoli, 33 points 10. Riba, 30 points More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: From pole position to podium for Sofuoglu HANNspree Ten Kate Honda’s Kenan Sofuoglu continued his domination of the 2007 World Supersport Championship at the Autodrome Nazionale Monza in Italy today. The young Turkish rider secured his fifth race win of the year after starting from pole position and smashing the existing Monza Supersport lap record. Sofuoglu secured his the lead early on after climbing from fourth to first position in a single lap of the 5.793km circuit. In doing so, he set the fastest lap of the race with a record-breaking time of 1’50.550. The 23-year-old then proceeded to open up the gap between himself and the chasing pack, extending his lead with every lap. Sofuoglu crossed the finish line almost four seconds ahead of second place rider Fabien Foret to secure the win and add another 25 points to his tally. He now leads the championship with a massive 145 points. Sébastien Charpentier’s started today’s 16-lap race on good form and maintained station in the leading group for the majority of the race. However, an unfortunate mistake on lap 15 caused the Frenchman to crash his CBR600RR at the Ascari chicane. He was uninjured but was forced to retire from the race. Charpentier is now placed seventeenth in the standings with 23 points. Ronald ten Kate, Team Manager: “We are obviously very, very happy with the result for Kenan. He is becoming a very fast and consistent rider in the championship and he has extended his lead even further today. The race went more or less how we had planned because we wanted to preserve the clutch at the beginning. This was one of our main concerns and after this he did a perfect job. I am really sorry for Sébastien. He didn’t have the power to keep with the leading group and then he had a problem when he missed a gear causing him to crash at the chicane. Anyway, we were going in the right direction with him and he is getting back on track. All he needs now is a good result to boost his confidence and I am sure that he is more than capable.” Kenan Sofuoglu: “I am really, really happy! I was very nervous before the race because this a long track with long braking points and it is difficult to open the gap. I had quite a bad start and I was in sixth or seventh position to begin with, but this was actually quite good because it gave me a chance to judge the other riders speeds. I knew that I was faster and I pushed to take the lead. Once I had it I didn’t want to push too hard, I just tried to maintain the lead I had and it worked. I want to thank my team, my mechanics and HANNspree. I am really happy to extend my lead, but there are seven races to go and that is seven races I need to be on the podium so there is still a lot of work to do. I am keeping my focus.” Sébastien Charpentier: “I don’t know exactly what happened today, it is difficult to explain the problem at the moment because I need to sit down with my mechanics and go through all the data from the race. I lost the grip after about ten laps, particularly on the exit to the Parabollica. It has not been a good day, but I hope I can get good results at the next race because for the moment it is very difficult for me. I try my best all the time in practice, but for some reason during the race it is just not working. I look forward to Silverstone to try and improve the situation.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: SOFUOGLU’S HIGH FIVE WINS IN SIX RACES Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) extended his championship lead to a massive 58 points after a superb front-running display at Monza. After overcoming a first corner melee that had him down in fourth place, after his third pole position in a row in qualifying, Sofuoglu hit the front on lap three and pushed hard to gain a significant lead by half race distance. He had the luxury of easing off to win by almost fours seconds, from the man second to him in the championship fight, Fabien Foret. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, Honda now leads by 48 points. Katsuaki Fujiwara (Althea Honda Team CBR600RR) was one of the riders to run on at the first chicane on lap one and had a major recovery job on his hands when he found himself 11th after that first lap. He had been third in qualifying, finished the race an eventual sixth, and is still third overall in the championship standings, on 53 points. Sebastien Charpentier (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) once more looked on course for a podium finish but he faded from the leading trio and then fell on lap 14, at Ascari, without injury. Lorenzo Alfonsi (Althea Honda Team CBR600RR) only found good set-up from his machine in morning warm-up, and from 19th on lap one he finished eighth, his best finish of the year so far. He had qualified only 22nd, but his eight points for eighth place now put him 12th in the championship fight, with 26 points in total Sofuoglu was peerless after a nervous first couple of laps, and set a new lap record in the race of 1’50.550 seconds, to go with his circuit best Supersport lap from qualifying, 1’50.459 seconds. “I was really nervous before the race because this is a long track with long braking points and it is difficult to open a gap,” said the championship’s class act of 2007. “I had quite a bad start and I was in sixth or seventh position to begin with, but this was actually quite good because it gave me a chance to judge the other riders’ speeds. I knew that I was faster and I pushed to take the lead. Once I had it I didn’t want to push too hard, I just tried to maintain the lead I had – and it worked. I am really happy to extend my lead, but there are seven races to go and that is seven races I need to be on the podium in, so there is still a lot of work to do. I am keeping my focus.” Fujiwara was back to his best once up to speed at Monza, but his first braking performance, which saw him run straight on at the first chicane, determined everything for his finishing position. “I had a good start from the first row but when I braked I lost a gap to the front after the first corner,” said the Japanese star. “I could not reduce the gap because the others in front were really fast. With a five second disadvantage after the first three laps there was too much to do to get to the podium.” Charpentier is now in 17th place in the Supersport championship, and is mystified as to why his raceday turned out as it did. “I don’t know exactly what happened today, it is difficult to explain the problem at the moment because I need to sit down with my mechanics and go through all the data from the race,” said the 2005 and 2006 champion. “I lost grip after about ten laps, particularly on the exit to the Parabolica. It has not been a good day, but I hope I can get good results at the next race because for the moment it is very difficult for me. I try my best all the time in practice, but for some reason during the race it is just not working.” Alfonsi found his hard work in qualifying unrewarding until raceday, when he and his team cracked the eventual Monza set-up code. “We found a good setting in warm-up so thanks to my team for all the hard work to get the bike ready to make a good race,” said Alfonsi. “The feeling with the bike was better and I made my best lap of the whole weekend in the race. Not so bad.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: West takes third for Yamaha in World Supersport This weekend’s newcomer, Anthony West, to the Yamaha World Supersport Team rode a gutsy race today to come third in the sixth round of the World Supersport Championship. Until this weekend Anthony West had not ridden a four-stroke bike since 2004 or ever ridden the Monza circuit before. Broc Parkes was running in second and looking confident when a technical fault ended his race early. West got off to a bad start and moved down from 14th to 18th as he got entangled in a first chicane scrum. But undeterred he put his head down and had moved up to sixth by lap six. He then found himself in a three-way battle with Veneman and Fujiwara but had passed both riders within two laps to then focus on Charpentier. Within one lap he had made up the 1.2 seconds on Charpentier and out-braked him going into the chicane. By this point in the race the young Australian was putting his fastest laps of the race, consistently hitting the 1’50s. With only three laps to go West then challenged Foret and Nannelli for second place with the riders swapping places every lap until on the last lap when West made a late challenge for second at the chicane only to be retaken aggressively by Foret at the Parabolica. Having had such a successful start to the weekend and after qualifying fourth Parkes had an unlucky end today. In the race he got off to a good start and took the lead at the first corner. He lost the lead to Sofuoglu on lap three but was sitting confidently behind him waiting for the right opportunity to overtake when a technical fault caused his bike to stop, ending his race. Roccoli had a disappointing race after qualifying in eighth yesterday. He started well enough but then made a mistake and lost several places. He finished in 11th taking five points away. Anthony West (3rd – Yamaha World Supersport Team) “That was a tough race – I had to fight very hard out there but it was good. I was happy when I got to eighth place and started to relax into the race. I then realized I could catch the front runners so focused on them. When I caught up with Foret and Nannelli I could feel my tyres were wearing off so let them fight it out in front of me with a view to making a late challenge. The bike feels really good now I’ve had a weekend to get to know it, it is fast too. I couldn’t have done so well without such a good bike, it gave me lots of confidence. And the team is one of the most professional teams I have worked with – I would like to thank them for their efforts this weekend.” Broc Parkes (DNF – Yamaha World Supersport Team) “I can’t believe the bad we had today. I had a really good bike and got a good start making sure I didn’t go too crazy on the first lap. Sofuoglu came past me but I could see he wasn’t consistent so I tagged onto him and was starting to get into a flow when the bike just stopped. The team and I have worked so hard to get the bike set up and this was shaping up to be the perfect opportunity for my first race win of the season. Now we just have to put this behind us and look forward to the next race which is at Silverstone. I normally go well there and have got second there before.” Massimo Roccoli (11th – Yamaha Team Italia) “I made a braking mistake at one point and I lost six places. Normally I prefer to have no one in front of me to be fast, but that cannot always be. The damage wasn’t too bad but my expectation for today was higher than my results. I am not happy with today’s race.”