Sofuoglu The Champion With Three
Races To Spare
Text and Photos Courtesy Honda Racing.
Edited by webBikeWorld.
August 5, 2007 - Kenan Sofuoglu, a
rider with the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda
team, finished second in the Brands
Hatch Supersport race on Sunday and in
doing so he scored his first and Honda’s
sixth Supersport Riders’ Championship.
All six champions have come from the
Ten Kate Honda team; Sofuoglu is in
excellent company, with Champions Fabien
Foret in 2002, then Chris Vermeulen
(2003), Karl Muggeridge (2004) and
Sebastien Charpentier (2005 and 2006).
The Prime Minister of Turkey called
Sofuoglu to congratulate him personally
at his success shortly after the
culmination of the race.
Second in qualifying, Sofuoglu chose
to leave eventual winner Broc Parkes to
finally capitalize on his lead after the
messy early laps were completed, and
concentrate his own efforts on scoring
enough points to take him unassailably
clear of Fabien Foret in the
championship fight.
Sofuoglu now has an advantage of 80
points, with only a maximum of 75 left
to be gained by any single rider for the
rest of the season. He has a total
of 206 points, with Foret at 126.
Honda also leads the Manufacturers’
Championship by 56 points, with races
still to be completed at Eurospeedway
Lausitz, Vallelunga and Magny-Cours.
Sofuoglu was overcome with the
magnitude of the day he sealed the
title, especially as his ambition was
achieved so early in his amazing
championship year.
Kenan Sofuoglu: “I
cannot explain what I am feeling,” said
the Turkish rider. “To win the
championship in August is such an
amazing feeling and I don’t think anyone
has ever done this before. I have
to thank the team because without them
this would not have been possible.
The race was actually pretty difficult,
particularly in the last laps, and there
was so much going on in my head that it
was hard to concentrate. I just
tried to focus and once I got to the
final lap I knew I had done it.
This is incredible, I am so happy!”
Charpentier, the outgoing champion,
was full of praise for his team-mate and
but disappointed that his pole in
practice only ended in such a negative
fashion.
“I am very happy for Kenan,” started
the 2005 and 2006 champion. “He
has worked hard all season and has had
some good luck as well. I would
obviously have liked a better
performance for myself but it was not to
be. We have had some positive
practice and testing at Brands Hatch,
but it would have been nice to complete
that with a podium finish in the race.”
Kenan Sofuoglu
Also in the Brands Hatch race,
despite having to start at the every
back of the grid after a late machine
change, Sebastien Charpentier (Hannspree
Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) worked his way
back to 15th, but was excluded for not
entering Parc Ferme on his return to pit
lane at the end of the 23 lap race.
Charpentier had scored his 21st pole
position success in qualifying, and was
originally set to start from the first
place on the grid. He is now 13th
overall, with 37 points.
Katsuaki Fujiwara (Althea Honda Team
CBR600RR) was third in qualifying and
was looking for a podium in a warring
four-rider group until his machine
stopped on lap 17. He is, however, still
third overall in the championship
standings, with a total of 87 points.
Lorenzo Alfonsi (Althea Honda Team
CBR600RR) came good in a race for which
he qualified inside the top ten, and he
made the most of his top ten finish by
securing his season high of seventh
place, moving to tenth position overall,
on 45 points.
Fujiwara was disappointed not to
finish strongly after a good qualifying
and race performance but was glad to
keep hold of overall third in the
championship.
“I don’t know what the problem was
but the bike just stopped,” said ‘Kats’.
“I was holding back at the end of the
group but even in practice and warm up I
was not sure if the new engine we fitted
was quite as fast as the one we had used
before. No points today but we still
hold onto third, which I can’t believe.
But I’m very happy about it.”
Alfonsi had said pre-race that if he
had a good start he would be able to
make a good finish, and raceday proved
he was right.
“I started in the top ten and that
was why I had a top ten finish,” said
Alfonsi. “I was happy with my tyre
choice but near the end the front
started to slide and I almost lost it at
Clearways twice. So I had to be careful
not push too hard to pass Foret. But I
am happy with that finish.”
|
2007 World Supersport
Championship |
| Round
10 Brands Hatch - Great
Britain |
| 1 B.
PARKES (Yamaha World SSP
Racing) |
| 2 K.
SOFUOGLU (Hannspree Ten Kate
Honda) |
| 3
M.ROCCOLI (Yamaha Lorenzini
by Leoni) |
| 4
R.HARMS (Stiggy Motorsport
Honda) |
| 5 T.
HILL (Yamaha World SSP
Racing) |
| 6 F.
FORET (Team Gil Motor Sport)
|
| 7 L.
ALFONSI (Althea Honda Team)
|
| 8 B.
VENEMAN (Pioneer Hoegee
Suzuki Racing) |
| 9 P.
RIBA (Team Gil Motor Sport)
|
| 10
M.LAGRIVE (Intermoto Czech)
|
| 11
G.VIZZIELLO (RG Team) |
| 12 J.
LASCORZ (Glaner Motocard.com)
|
| 13 S.
GIMBERT (Yamaha - GMT 94)
|
| 14
G.LEBLANC (Vazy Racing Team)
|
| 15
M.SANCHINI (Intermoto Czech)
|
