All Change For Penultimate WorldSSP Round
The Jerez de la Frontera round of the 2017 WorldSSP championship takes place this coming weekend in southern Spain with five-times World Champion Kenan Sofuoglu ruled out of the action through injury. There will be a new line-up of official Kawasaki Puccetti Racing WorldSSP riders in Spain, with Axel Bassani and Anthony West competing for the Italian based team.
Despite a hip injury sustained in a crash during Superpole at the previous round in France, Kenan Sofuoglu still aims to return racing in 2017. The condition of the Turkish rider, who went back to his home country directly after his accident, is constantly improving, but it remains to be seen if he will be able to come back to action for the final round of the year in Qatar.
The 2016 European WorldSSP Champion Axel Bassani will replace Sofuoglu at Jerez. After a positive seventh place at Misano earlier in the year, riding on board Michael Canducci’s Kawasaki ZX-6R machine, the Italian rider aims to complete the Spanish round with a strong performance to help win the 2017 Teams’ title for Kawasaki Puccetti. Alongside Bassani, Australian rider Anthony West will ride in the WorldSSP class this weekend.
On the completion of the Jerez round the championship finale will be held on Saturday 4th November, at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar.
Axel Bassani, stated: “I am really happy to be able to get back racing! I was waiting for a similar chance for months and finally it arrived. I will give my best to replace the world champion. Now I will focus only on the race weekend.”
Manuel Puccetti stated: “In WorldSSP the Riders’ title seems already impossible to win, but we won’t give up on the Teams’ title. Canducci, Bassani and West will try to get into the top 5 this weekend.”
Michael Canducci (3570 Puccetti Racing FMI Kawasaki) will start his Spanish weekend sitting 15th in the championship table, Kazuki Watanabe (Team Kawasaki Go Eleven) is currently in 18th place.
Part-time ESS rider Rob Hartog (Team Hartog Jenik Against Cancer Kawasaki) sits 20th, Gino Rea (Team Kawasaki Go Eleven) is still 21st and series regular Nacho Calero (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) starts his home round in 27th place.
Lachlan Epis (Response RE Racing Kawasaki) is on the same points score as Calero, in 28th place, while Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) remains 34th.