FIM Supersport World Championship
Imola Circuit
Imola, Italy
May 13, 2018
Race Results (all on Pirelli tires):
1. Jules Cluzel, France (Yam YZF-R6), 17 laps, Total Race Time 31:53.653, Best Lap Time 1:52.205
2. Federico Caricasulo, Italy (Yam YZF-R6), -0.363 second, 1:51.777
3. Raffaele De Rosa, Italy (MV Agusta F3 675), -0.906, 1:52.130
4. Sandro Cortese, Germany (Yam YZF-R6), -0.990, 1:51.887
5. Randy Krummenacher, Switzerland (Yam YZF-R6), -14.270 seconds, 1:52.334
6. Anthony West, Australia (Kaw ZX-6R), -15.844, 1:52.807
7. Miki Tuuli, Finland (Hon CBR600RR), -16.199, 1:52.949
8. Lucas Mahias, France (Yam YZF-R6), -16.200, crash, 1:51.529
9. Luke Stapleford, UK (Tri Daytona 675R), -18.471, 1:52.822
10. Hikari Okubo, Japan (Kaw ZX-6R), -20.206, 1:52.963
29. Kenan Sofuoglu, Turkey (Kaw ZX-6R), -17 laps, DNF, retired, no lap time recorded
World Championship Point Standings (after 5 of 12 races):
1. Krummenacher, 81 points
2. Mahias, 79
3. Cortese, 77
4. Cluzel, 75
5. Caricasulo, 69
6. De Rosa, 51
7. Stapleford, 45
8. Tuuli, 38
9. West, 27
10. Thomas Gradinger, 22
More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki:
Warm Send-Off For Sofuoglu On His Final Weekend
Having qualified third for what was scheduled to be his final WorldSSP race Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) finally elected not to ride today at Imola. The most successful WorldSSP rider of all time was given a warm and rousing send off after the race was completed, as he began his retirement from on-track life. His team-mate Hikari Okubo (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) secured a top ten finish at Imola, his best of the season since he joined Kawasaki, and is now 18th in the championship rankings.
A few minutes before he was due to race at Imola Sofuoglu, elected to not line up for what would have been the final contest of a long WorldSSP career. Realising he was not fit enough to truly compete in a full race, particularly starting from a front row grid position in front of almost 30 other riders, Kenan did not want to potentially affect the outcome of a championship fight he would no longer be part of.
Promising his family he would not be injured again, and not wanting to pull out mid-race in case the fans thought his retirement was caused by a technical problem, the statistically greatest-ever WorldSSP rider decided to do a sighting lap and retire in pit lane. In practice, despite his lack of race fitness, he achieved the same lap time as he had last year and decided to leave his competitive career on that note.
Sofuoglu’s career sign off, in his team’s home country of Italy, was the focus of incredible media and public attention, with even many of his old and current rivals attending a special send-off for him on Saturday the 12th of May, at the WorldSBK Paddock Show.
Kenan’s career-ending stats are untouchable by any other rider since the FIM World Championship class was instigated in the late 1990s. No other rider has come close to Sofuoglu’s five world championship crowns, three of which have been attained using Kawasaki machinery, and the two most recent with Kawasaki Puccetti Racing.
The lone official Kawasaki Puccetti rider in the race was 2018 signing Hikari Okubo, who finished tenth and scored six valuable championship points.
After some misfortune at previous rounds, Okubo rode as hard as he could while ensuring he completed the race, and the Japanese rider now heads to the next round armed with much greater understanding of his machine package over full race distance.
Donington Park, in the UK, will host the sixth round of the championship, with raceday on Sunday the 27th of May.
Kenan Sofuoglu stated: “Friday went well and on Saturday we took a front row Superpole position. It was a very great moment for me to be here. Dorna, Kawasaki and my team organised a very nice event yesterday. I felt that if I raced today what was the reason that I would start? I felt I was not really physically ready to do this race. If I crashed with some of the championship challengers, if something happened, it could be very bad. I would feel I had damaged someone’s championship. I was here for the show, not here for the goal, and I think the show was over. I came on to the grid, onto the front row, and said goodbye to everyone. I think this was the best decision to make. Honestly, this morning I did not know what I was going to do. I only decided not to race a few minutes before the start. My team were surprised but they respected what I wanted. I did not want to break a promise to my family. Thank you to everybody; thanks to Jonathan Rea, who came to my goodbye event at the Paddock Show, and my Turkish riders for the future, plus all my Turkish fans. I was happy to be here but this is not my decision to retire, my family and everyone that surrounded me persuaded me to retire. I am here to say goodbye to racing – and to say thank you to everybody.”
Hikari Okubo, stated: “I enjoy riding at this track but it was a hard race. In the previous rounds I have had some crashes and a technical problem, so I have not done a full race yet on my Kawasaki. So I did not know how the bike would feel over 17-laps. It almost feels like today was my first race of the season. I understood some things about the machine and set-up today so now I need to go to the next step. I finished inside the top ten and it was an important result today. We can do better step-by-step from now on.”
Ken Ondo, Head of Motorsport for Kawasaki Heavy Industries, stated: “It has been a great pleasure having Kenan working with us for many years and losing him is a great loss for Kawasaki.”
Steve Guttridge, Race Planning Manager, Kawasaki Motors Europe, stated: “It’s been fantastic to work with Kenan, he gives 100% every time. He has full motivation and he works with a great team; we will really miss him.”
Manuel Puccetti, Team Manager, stated: “This is a difficult moment for the team. In our very first season in 2015 we got the title. He asks 100% of the team and gives more than 100% in return.”
Fabien Foret, 2002 WorldSSP champion, stated “I have been lucky to know him well and he is a very good person. On the track, he gave me a very hard time because he never gave up. He was the best rider in Supersport for a very long time; probably the best rider ever and a very good person.”
Kenan Sofuoglu WorldSSP Statistics
World Champion 2007, 2010, 2012, 2015 & 2016
Career Race Wins: 43 (26 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 85 (46 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 34 (22 for Kawasaki)
With Sofuoglu not riding at Imola in the race Anthony West (EAB antwest Racing Kawasaki) was the top ranked Kawasaki rider, in sixth. This was a remarkably determined performance as he had to have an operation to repair a broken right wrist, suffered in Assen just three weeks ago. He was also suffering the effect of a virus, but battled his way to his second top six of the season. He is now ninth in the championship standings, and top Kawasaki rider.
With Okubo tenth, ESS Rider, Rob Hartog (Team Hartog Against Cancer) was 11th, and again the best of all the riders who only compete at the European rounds. Niccola Morrentino Jr. (Renzi Corse Kawasaki) scored a point for 15th as a wildcard rider today.
Peter Sebestyen (SSP Hungary Team) was 17th today, Michael Canducci (Team GoEleven Kawasaki) 18th and Wayne Tessels (Chromeburner Wayne’s Racingteam MTM) 21st, one place ahead of Nacho Calero (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki). Javier Ezequiel Iturrioz (Team GoEleven Kawasaki) was unable to start.
More, from a press release issued by CIA Landlord Insurance Honda:
Top ten for Tuuli & more Championship points for Irwin at Imola
CIA Landlord Insurance Honda rider Niki Tuuli delivered a top ten finish in today’s World Supersport race at Imola in Italy.
Starting from fifteenth on the grid Tuuli made a good start and fought his way through the field to hold fifth position for most of the 17-lap race. After a coming together with West at the end of the race, Tuuli relinquished that position to Krummenacher and finished in seventh place.
Tuuli said: “First of all finally I got a good start and I think my first lap was really good I passed many riders but I still need to improve a lot in the first eight laps and use the new tyre because there I am losing most of the time. It feels like I can’t push more even with a new tyre. By the end of the race it is coming better for me, it feels that was my best race of the year still the gap to the front is big, the fifth place was there. I’m really happy but we still need to improve to get a good starting position. We still continue the fight.”
Fellow CIA Landlord Insurance Honda rider Andrew Irwin also made a good start from his grid position of twenty-second to deliver another strong points scoring performance in fourteenth.
Irwin said: “The race started good I got a decent start then on lap 3 Badovini crashed so I lost my tow to the ones in front. I had a bit of a battle for 14th/15th and I ended up 14th. Coming into the weekend I wanted points and sometimes when you get what you want you’re still not satisfied but I can’t be disappointed it’s two weekends in a row with points and the first time I’ve come to a new track and got points so I think we are starting to get some continuity, some flow. We go to Donington next which is a track I know really well and hopefully we can be in the points. It should be a much easier weekend knowing the track we can get the best set-up earlier. I’m really looking forward to it. Thanks to my crew chief Kor, my mechanic Matia and the rest of the team.”
CIA Landlord Insurance Honda Team Manager Simon Buckmaster said: “It was a really good start by both Niki and Andrew. The first few laps Niki did pass some riders and move forward again you have to say that earlier in the race he should have been faster than he was. Niki is improving but I would say the adjustment from Yamaha to Honda has taken longer than we and he would have expected but another good top ten finish so that’s a good job by the team.”
“Another points finish for Andrew. This is a really hard track to come to when you’ve never been before it’s also been really hot this weekend and dealing with the heat is probably one of the bigger things Andrew has had to adjust to compared to being in the UK last year. So that’s two top fifteen finishes in a row and we go to our home round at Donington Park now and obviously Andrew knows the track well so he really is now making big strides forward. Congratulations to Andrew and all of our team.”
More, from a press release issued by Dorna WSBK Press Office:
WorldSSP: Cluzel returns to top with electric Imola win
Distance between first and fifth down to 12 points after fantastic race 5
It took Jules Cluzel (NRT) a year and a half to find his way back to the top before Assen. For win number 2, it has taken just 21 days, as the French rider won his second consecutive race of the 2018 FIM Supersport World Championship season. The Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari di Imola witnessed a thrilling fifth race of the year, with Italian pair Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) and Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse by Vamag) in second and third.
Things got emotional early at Imola. Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), who was third on the grid, decided at the last moment to not take part in what was supposed to be his final race. The WorldSSP legend climbed on his Kawasaki ZX-6R one last time, led the field one lap around the track, and headed into the pits. A final bow, on his terms, from an inimitable champion.
Of course, there was still a race left at Imola – and perhaps as a tribute to Kenan’s career, it was an electric, drama-filled affair. Right from the start, five riders shot out ahead, with Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) protecting his lead from Cluzel and Caricasulo. The reigning champion defended brilliantly until lap 6, when a slip at Rivazza left him tumbling down to 20th.
The now-front four led with blistering pace, tenths of a second amongst themselves but double figures with the rest. Caricasulo, fighting to hang on after a mistake in lap 7, managed to overtake Sandro Cortese (Kallio Racing) and De Rosa in the closing stages, but Cluzel proved to be just that inch too fast, racing ahead and meeting the checkered flag, with the Italian in second.
De Rosa managed to put his MV Agusta onto the podium for the second race in a row. The rider in red has grown into the championship, and adds another name to an already stacked front-end. Cortese, meanwhile, finished fourth, just 0.084 seconds off.
Behind the leading four, Randy Krummenacher (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team) managed to climb through from 11th on the grid and becomes the new championship leader, on 81 points. Anthony West (EAB antwest Racing) made a triumphant return from injury with sixth place, while Mahias, in full-damage limitation mode, was beaten to seventh by Niki Tuuli (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) by just one thousandth of a second. The Frenchman relinquishes his championship lead, but remains just two points behind Krummenacher. Most importantly, however, the distance between first and fifth is now down to just 12 points.
Completing the top ten, Luke Stapleford (Profile Racing) came in ninth, scoring valuable points to keep him in touching distance with the front riders, while Hikari Okubo (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) finished the race in tenth.
P1 – Jules Cluzel (NRT)
“It was very difficult race, because I was expecting to go faster. Mahias passed me and was faster, but he made a mistake so I tried to keep the best pace without making any mistakes. Then when Caricasulo was in the lead, he also made a mistake and i just tried to keep my ace and make no mistakes. My plan was to push the most on the last lap and try to escape with no one behind me!”
More, from another press release issued by Dorna WSBK Press Office:
Kenan Sofuoglu retires from racing after Imola swansong
Take a look back over his illustrious career
Turkish racing legend Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) has taken to the grid for his last ever race this weekend at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo d Dino Ferrari di Imola, as the five time FIM Supersport World Champion looks ahead to a new chapter of his career in rider coaching and mentoring.
Sitting out of three of the four opening rounds of the 2018 championship, and narrowly missing out on retaining the WorldSSP title in 2017, the 33 year old has made the decision not to continue this season and beyond. With injuries sustained in Magny-Cours last year still causing him pain and discomfort, the most successful WorldSSP rider has decided to hang up his leathers and focus on his long term health.
Sofuoglu first burst onto the WorldSBK scene in 2003, making his debut in WorldSSP, but underwent three difficult races. Firmly planting his name in the series in 2004, the Turkish rider made an impact in the European Superstock 1000 Championship and finished in third overall, taking five podiums along the way with Yamaha. Taking on the competitive series once again in 2005 Sofuoglu narrowly missed out on the title by six points, after a season long battle with Didier van Keymeulen, which saw him secure six podium finishes.
2006 welcomed a move up into the WorldSSP class for Kenan with Ten Kate Honda, and the young talent found his feet very quickly in the 600cc category. Grasping two victories in his first full season – his first at TT Circuit Assen – the truly began in 2007 as he took 12 podiums from 13 races, clinching the title at Brands Hatch with three rounds remaining. Ending the season 143 points ahead of his closest rival Broc Parkes, Sofuoglu was already breaking records as he claimed the honor of the most wins secured over a season.
Making the traditional progression into the WorldSBK class the following season, 2008 was a testing season for the reigning champion in both her personal and racing life. Facing a big learning curve with his Junior Honda squad, he was able to take home points in 13 races that season. With a best result of ninth to his name, Sofuoglu took a step back to the more familiar territory of WorldSSP for 2009, and his dominance truly blossomed.
Finding his feet in 2009 and facing new rivals, the number 54 rider ended the season in the top three, an appropriate 54 points off the champion Cal Crutchlow. Taking the confidence of his six podiums and three victories into a new decade, 2010 welcomed Sofuoglu back to the top of the standings. Finishing on the podium at every race of the season, the Honda rider faced a season-long battle with Eugene Laverty and Joan Lascorz before clinching the title by 11 points in France.
Becoming an unstoppable force in WorldSSP, 2011 saw him make the step over to the MotoGP™ class, where he tried his hand at the 600cc Moto2™ series. Bringing home one second position around a wet TT Circuit Assen on his Suter, Sofuoglu made the move back into WorldSSP to continue to break records. Nevertheless a season of absence didn’t slow him down, and whilst making the switch to Kawasaki for 2012 he was able to win the title for a third time – with nine podiums and four victories. Beginning an intense rivalry with Fabien Foret, this kicked off in the opening race at Phillip Island which saw Sofuoglu take the victory by 0.078s over the line.
Facing some strong battles out on track, the Turkish rider was runner up in 2013 to Brit Sam Lowes and he missed out on the crown by 49 points overall, despite taking five victories and nine podiums, in what was his 10th year of racing on the world stage. 2014 was a tough season for the three time champion, as he could only muster a top eight finish in the standings with Dutch youngster Michael van der Mark taking the title.
Despite a disappointing year, the Kawasaki rider was able to bounce back in true champion style the following season as he joined Kawasaki Puccetti Racing. Going through a difficult period in his home life, the record breaker was crowned 2015 WorldSSP champion by a sensational 74 points ahead of Jules Cluzel. Only missing out on a podium finish on three occasions, it was clear he had not lost his WorldSSP winning style.
2016 saw Sofuoglu secure his fifth and final title, which he sealed in the penultimate round of the season at Circuito de Jerez. Facing a strong battle from his team-mate Randy Krummenacher, the Turkish rider shone through overall. Showing the utter dominance fans became used to with seven poles, nine podiums and six wins throughout the 12 rounds of the season, securing his status as a WorldSSP legend.
The 33 year old was able to portray his steely grit and determination right until the end of his career. Sitting out of the opening two rounds of the 2017 season, he returned at MotorLand Aragon but was involved in a crash which saw him unable to score points in the opening three races. However Sofuoglu went on to win the next four races in a row, and only finished off the podium when he was involved in a crash.
But the crash which ultimately became pivotal to his career at Magny-Cours was the most spectacular. Breaking his pelvis in three places, he was given a 12 week recovery period, but returned to his bike and to the podium five weeks after the crash. Stamping his status on the field, the legend of Sofuoglu will live on forever.
Retiring with 43 wins, 85 podiums and five world titles to his name, Kenan Sofuoglu will go down in WorldSSP history. Putting on one final show for his fans around Imola, he truly was a great showman. Pay your tributes to the five time world champion on social media with #ThankYouKenan.
Kenan Sofuoglu WorldSSP Career Stats
Starts: 126
Podiums: 85
Wins: 43
Titles: 5