World Supersport Championship leader Kenan Sofuoglu has been ruled out of Sunday’s Magny-Cours race after sustaining damage to his pelvis in a crash during Superpole.
Sofuoglu – who leads the standings by four points from Lucas Mahias – was battling hard with Kallio Racing’s Niki Tuuli for pole position in the dying stages of Superpole at Magny-Cours, and was on course to go quicker than the Finn when he crashed with just over a minute left on the clock.
The Puccetti Kawasaki rider highsided exiting the 180 corner of the 4.4km French circuit. Sofuoglu required medical attention at the side of the track, while his ZX-6R was left stricken in the middle of the circuit.
The session was stopped, giving Tuuli his first pole position in the Superport World Championship, while Sofuoglu was taken to the medical centre where he was diagnosed with a pelvic injury.
The Turkish rider has since been transferred to the Nevers Hospital and will miss Sunday’s 19-lap 10th round of the 2017 WorldSSP season.
This could potentially deal Sofuoglu a big blow in the title race, though main rival Mahias will have work to do from 12th on the grid after encountering a technical issue with his Yamaha R6 in the early stages of SP2.
Sofuoglu missed the opening two rounds of the season in Australia and Thailand with a wrist injury he sustained in the pre-season, and failed to score points on his comeback at Aragon after he was involved in a collision with Federico Caricasulo.
The five-time Supersport world champion then went on to win the next four races at Assen, Imola, Donington and Misano, while taking second at the Lausitzring and a further victory in Portugal last time out to take the lead in the standings for the first time this season.
