Kenan Sofuoglu brushed off a technical issue this morning and a crash late in second practice to end Friday’s Rimini World Supersport action fastest of all from Britain’s Gino Rea.
Sofuoglu comes into this weekend’s seventh round of the season 30 points off of the championship lead following his third straight win last time out at Donington Park.
Eager to carry this form into Misano, the Turkish rider’s weekend did not get off to the best of starts. After just five laps this morning, he was forced to sit the rest of the session out after his Puccetti Kawasaki developed a technical issue.
His team managed to resolve the problem in time for the second hour-long outing, Sofuoglu wasting no time when the session got underway.
By the halfway mark he had taken over top spot with a 1m39.102s, but was unable to improve on that after suffering a small tumble at Turn 8 in the closing stages.
A flurry of activity in the final few minutes of second practice saw many improvements, but no one was able to put Sofuoglu’s time under threat.
Team Go Eleven Kawasaki’s Gino Rea pulled out a 1m39.258s towards the end of the session to go second fastest, knocking MV Agusta’s PJ Jacobsen back to third, with Jules Cluzel guiding his CIA Insurance Honda to fourth spot.
GRT Yamaha’s Federico Caricasulo was fastest this morning, but a crash at Turn 4 with half the session gone stopped him from improving on his 1m39.376s ,and he ends the day fifth overall ahead of Christian Gamarino.
Profile Racing’s Luke Stapleford has enjoyed a strong opening day at Misano, the Briton sixth this morning and seventh in the second session on his Triumph.
Italian rider Axel Bassani is in action in front of his home crowd this weekend as a stand-in for the injured Michael Canducci.
Bassani, who lost his Speed Up Moto2 ride just prior to the Italian Grand Prix, will go straight into the second part of Superpole tomorrow after an impressive 1m39.507s put him eighth.
Lucas Mahias was second this morning, but slipped back to ninth by the end of second practice, the championship leader four tenths off the pace. Anthony West rounded out the top 10 to secure his first SP2 appearance of the season.
Hikari Okubo put the Australian under pressure in the dying seconds, but just missed out in 11th. Kyle Smith, who crashed at Turn 2 just moments before the chequered flag, headed wildcard Davide Stirpe in 12th, with Sheridan Morais and Alessandro Zaccone completing the top 15.
