Battling Podium For Sofuoglu in Portugal

2014-07-06 10:34
Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Mahi Racing Team India) fought hard in the FIM Supersport World Championship race at Portimao and was rewarded with third place after the planned 18-lap race was shortened to 12 laps after a fall of rain.

Sofuoglu’s third podium of 2014 brought him to fourth place in the championship, one place behind Florian Marino (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) who finished his Portimao race in eighth. Marino is now ten points ahead of Sofuoglu with four rounds to go.

Patrick Jacobsen was fifth in the race at Portimao riding his Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres Ninja ZX-6R machine and he is ranked seventh in the points, tied with another rider.

For Roby Rolfo (Kawasaki Team Go Eleven) the Portuguese round delivered a ninth place in the race and the same position in the championship with four rounds left.

Roberto Tamburini (San Carlo Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) was a retirement from the race in pitlane, while his team-mate Alessandro Nocco (San Carlo Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) was a strong 12th.

Christian Gamarino (Kawasaki Team Go Eleven) placed 17th in the race and Tony Covena (Kawasaki Ponyexpres Intermoto) ran out 18th, with both just missing points scores.

There now follows a long two-month break in the WSS championship calendar, with the next competitive outing being in Jerez, Spain, on September 7th.

Kenan Sofuoglu: “I was running very strongly when they stopped the race. When Michael van der Mark started to pull a gap I decided to pass Jack Kennedy and try to catch Michael. I ran off twice trying to do it but I came back each time. With five laps to go I had a fast pace but then they stopped the race and because of that I could not even finish second. After a hard time in the last couple of races a podium is not so bad. We cannot say we are completely happy because we were focused to win this weekend but sometimes things do not got to plan.”

Source: Kawasaki Racing Team

Click here to visit our forums to discuss this story