Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/334712
WORLD SUPERBIKE WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 7/JUNE 22, 2014 MISANO WORLD CIRCUIT MARCO SIMONCELLI/RIVIERA DI RIMINI, ITALY P84 CLUZEL SHOWS A CLEAN PAIR OF HEELS After 19 laps of tough and usually fair World Supersport action the result was not in question, as MV Agusta Reparto Corse's Jules Cluzel led from pole position and made enough of an early gap that even the late charge of championship leader Michael van der Mark had no effect on him. How many more laps Van der Mark may have needed to catch him are de- batable, but the top-two riders of 2014 showed their qualities in unmistakably rewarding ways. For his superb ride under full pres- sure and at full pace Cluzel closed the gap back down to Van der Mark in the points, but only by the five points he lost to him at Sepang. The Frenchman was stoked to win, especially as all the pre-race talk was of losing a title sponsor and if MV could recover their poise enough to take a victory, the sixth of his career. "I was not thinking that I would not be here at Misano, but even then everything was great and I did not feel any pressure - the only pressure I had was to try to win," said Cluzel, who now has two wins and three other podium finishes in 2014. "I am happy because I did it, but it was easy to make a mistake in this race. They gave me a good bike today and they improved something which I was really scared about, but now I am happy." An early race mistake by Kawasaki Mahi Racing Team India's Kenan Sofuoglu cost him, the Turk running wide and coming back on track in front of van der Mark, who had to take avoiding action and lost a place to PJ Jacobsen in the process. It would take him until lap 11 for van der Mark to get his second place back, but he couldn't catch Cluzel and had to accept his 1.527-second margin of loss. "The start wasn't bad and I got third… then I got a good feeling to be there, but Kenan [Sofuoglu] ran wide at the first corner and in my opinion he should have took the escape road because we almost crashed and then I lost another place to PJ Jacobsen," said Van der Mark. "The guys were riding so fast I had to push really hard and after I passed Kenan and [PJ] Ja- cobsen I was pushing to get to Jules [Cluzel], but he rode a perfect race to- day. I was faster, but after the mistake in the beginning I could not catch him any more than I did. We are still lead- ing the championship by 28 points, so that is what we are looking for." A new name appeared on the World Supersport winner's role call, that of PJ Jacobsen, on the well-proven Kawasaki Intermoto Pony Express machine. His third place, only 3.4 seconds from the winner,was easily his best ride of his seven – yes seven – World Supersport contests in total. "I think we just found a couple of things with the bike that suit my style a little bit more and I think we