Kenan Sofuoglu became the first repeat winner of World Supersport 2017, after the Turkish rider held off a race-long challenge from championship leader Lucas Mahias at Imola.
The fifth round of the WorldSSP season was delayed three times this morning for track conditions prior to the initial start and two incidents during both restarts. This forced the race to be postponed to after the World Superbike outing.
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️ CRASH for @kyleryde, rider OK
(but dissapointed)
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Run over 11 laps, thankfully there were no such red flag dramas, though an early crash for Kyle Ryde at the final corner and an engine issue for Alex Baldolini did threaten yet more stoppages.
At the start, Yamaha’s Mahias took the holeshot from pole man PJ Jacobsen, whilst Sofuoglu replicated his Turn 2 lunge from earlier to jump up from fifth to third, moving ahead of Jacobsen not long after for second.
Setting a blistering pace, the Puccetti Kawasaki rider clinically scythed past Mahias into the final corner on the third tour but was unable to break away. Mahias kept the gap between himself and Sofuoglu under 0.5s for the duration of the race, the Frenchman putting Sofuoglu under renewed pressure in the closing stages.
But the Turkish rider’s resolve remained unbroken, and he took the chequered flag to achieve a milestone 40th victory in the Supersport class. With Mahias second, Sofuoglu jumps up to fourth in the standings and narrows his deficit to 35 points.
Jacobsen once again failed to convert pole position into a win, but did keep Mahais and Sofuoglu honest for the entire contest. The MV Agusta rider crossed the line 1.5s off the lead in third, with Sheridan Morais five seconds adrift in a fine fourth.
Kyle Smith held Jules Cluzel at bay to complete the top five, whilst Christian Gamarion slipped from third on the grid to seventh. Belgian wildcard Loris Cresson put on an impressive performance to finish eighth, with Hikari Okubo and leading European Supersport contender Alessandro Zaccone completing the top 10.
Ant West put a difficult weekend behind him to take the chequered flag in a fighting 11th after pipping impressive Profile Racing stand-in Jack Kennedy in the final laps. Kennedy’s team-mate Luke Stapleford recovered from 18th in qualifying to finish 13th, with Michael Canducci and Gino Rea taking the final points in 14th and 15th.
Federico Caricasulo, who stopped on the sighting lap of the initial race with a mechanical issue, did make this afternoon’s outing. However, after serving a ride through penalty for not starting from pit lane in the morning’s second attempt, the Italian capped off a horrendous home round with a non-finish.
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