WORLD SUPERBIKE
WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 5/MAY 10, 2015
ENZO/DINO FERRARI CIRCUIT/IMOLA, ITALY
P80
SOFUOGLU WINS THREE IN A ROW
After his young son Hamza had
taken seriously ill a few days before
Imola, Kenan Sofuoglu was not going
to race in Italy. He decided to, after
much thought on the matter, won
the race and then went straight back
home to Turkey to be with his family.
The Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider
was therefore on a mission. And even
though Sofuoglu had the unexpected
presence of MV Agusta Reparto
Corse's Jules Cluzel with him for the
whole race—winning it by only 0.883
seconds—he had talked himself into
victory.
"Today the race was not easy,"
Sofuoglu said. "I was not prepared in
my conditioning and last week I did
not sleep well. On the other side of
the story I was strong because I know
how difficult it was to come here. For
that reason, inside me, I came here for
a win. I think this race was very hard
because [Jules] Cluzel was strong,
more than I expected, but I told myself
if I was here—I was here to win. I was
not going to accept second, not today.
There will be days when I have to, but
not today. I am happy to have taken 25
points and will now go straight back to
Turkey."
His win made it 30 in his career,
extending his all-time record.
Cluzel's machine package held
together well on home ground and he
was able to share a podium with not
only Sofuoglu but his own teammate,
Lorenzo Zanetti.
The top three were unstoppable
Sykes (66) led
Davide Giugliano
(34) after the
restart of race
one, but Rea
would take top
honors after a
Sykes mistake.
