Cycle News

WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP VOL. 51 ISSUE 23 JUNE 10, 2014 P101 Briefly... to the 86th floor and were treated to detailed descriptions of the stunning stainless steel-clad building, as well as a panoramic view of the Malaysian Capital city. Local media were out in force to try and drum up interest in the series in its first visit to Sepang. Despite this being a new World Su- perbike venue it was almost surpris- ing how many of the top riders had been there before, some like Marco Melandri on multiple occasions and some only once – like Jonathan Rea – for a test. Some, like Sylvain Guintoli, said that the bumps many riders commented on were always there while some said they were mostly new, created by the extreme braking forces caused by Formula One cars. Local knowledge obviously counted for a lot early at Sepang with Thai rider and former GP runner Rat- thapark Wilairot second fastest in first World Supersport session, .044 of a second from another ex-GP rid- er Jules Cluzel. The top three riders in Superbike on day one were all for- mer top MotoGP runners. Leon Camier was back after his re- cent bicep injury at Donington, and he was duly fastest of all the Evos on the first day. Curiously, Niccolo Canepa was slow on day one, but that was explained because he was running an engine longer than is ide- al. He has already had two engines taken from his season total of six. (In the Evo class each rider is limited to six stock engines for the season, the full World Superbike men are limited to eight tuned engines per year). 600 DEGREES IN THE SHADE A giant of a battle in the early stages of the first ever and frantic World Supersport race at Sepang ended up as a man-to- man fight between eventual close winner Michael van der Mark and Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta RC Yakhnich Motorsports). The early laps were led by a man who lost practice time to technical issues in practice this weekend, Kenan Sofuoglu. The time he lost in practice finally told on race day - even if he was a whopping one second faster than anyone in morning warm-up. He tried to get away early on but his rivals clawed him back in, and he had to drop his pace and battle with even- tual fourth-place finisher Roby Rolfo and his Kawasaki Team GO Eleven. Up front, Pata Honda's van der Mark and MV Agusta RC Yakhnich Motor- sports' Cluzel had a stirring last-lap battle with each rider trying to make the best of his own perceived ma- chine advantages. It resulted in Cluzel running a little wide under braking to repass VDM – deliberately he said – to get back in and accelerate to the line at the final hairpin. Despite this, van der Mark had enough to skip inside, gas it and spin all the way to his third win of 2014 and his second in a row - by .018 of a second this time. "I qualified third and my start was quite good, although I braked a bit too early for turn one," the tall Dutch rider said. "I saw I could follow Sofuoglu and Cluzel and got into quite a safe rhythm, but they were a bit slower so, after six or seven laps, I passed them and tried to go away. I heard Jules and knew he would try to overtake me again. I was lucky in the last corner and held a really tight line. My exit wasn't great,t but I just won on the finish line." Cluzel lost ground on the champion- ship leader VDM at this round, but still gave it all on his 675cc triple. "It looks like Michael [van der Mark] had some extra power for the last exit, because normally I was faster there," Cluzel said. "But on the last lap it was impossible to come back just with the slipstream and it was very close." Although Sofuoglu was firmly beaten he was unbowed and feels all he needs is a clean weekend to reassert the kind of dominance he has shown on many occasions this year, only for technical issues or simple bad luck to intervene. The three-time World Champion was more sad than angry this weekend, but still full of fight if his bike is right. "I did not have the pace to keep my lead and when van der Mark and Cluzel passed me, they could use a throttle a lot more," said Sofuoglu. "When I tried this I started to slide too much. I did not have the pace for most of the weekend at Sepang, but in warm-up we found a set-up that allowed us to turn into the corners and set a fast lap time. I am not surprised a couple of other riders got away. We did not have enough time to set-up the bike, that is our issue at the moment. The main thing is that we are back on the podium and if we can improve a bit more I think we can win races." Roberto Rolfo, another old hand at Sepang, placed fourth after qualifying fifth, his resurgence partly due to track knowledge not all the riders shared. Florian Marino's crash meant that Cluzel is now second in the champion- ship, behind van der Mark, 115-82. Marino is now third on 76, Zanetti fourth on 60 and Coghlan fifth on the same total. (Left to right) Jean Cluzel, Michael van der Mark and Kenan Sofuoglu celebrate on the World Supersport podium. continued on next page

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