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/694857
IN THE WIND P46 SOFUOGLU WAITS AND WINS IN MISANO WORLDSSP A late tire change for the runaway championship leader Kenan Sofuoglu con- tinued his and his Kawa- saki Puccetti team's charge away from their main rivals in WorldSSP at Misano. America's PJ Jacobsen (Honda World Supersport) led for many of the 19 laps, but he had the inexperi- enced but fast and free- riding Federico Caricasulo for company on another Honda, from the Bardahl Racing Evans Bros Team, with Sofuoglu back in third place for a lot of the race, worrying his harder-compound tires wouldn't allow him to be outright fast enough. They did, and after some contacts between Jacobsen and Caricasulo, then Caricasulo and Sofuoglu, the final order proved to be wily fox Sofuoglu first, the local hero Caricasulo second and Jacobsen third, unable to keep the final two-lap pace as his rivals went by him. Two of the three had tire marks on them by race finish, and they all crossed the line within a second. "The whole race was quite nervous for me because I had no feeling from the front," said Jacobsen. "From free practice one we just could not solve the problem. We changed some forks and stuff but we were still struggling with some feel- ing from it. For me it was quite disappointing because if we had been a bit better with the front we could have achieved more in the race. The race was quite difficult for us. I am happy with another podium but the only disappointment today is that we did not beat Kenan to get more points. We will come back stronger after a long summer break. I will be going to the Su- zuka 8-Hour and working twice as hard, but it should be a good break." Sofuoglu won his 36th race of a long career at Misano, extend- ing his own record. Behind the podium riders, Gino Rea (GRT Racing MV Agusta) became the first MV Agusta rider in the points, after Jules Cluzel crashed out at Misano. Sofuoglu's teammate Krummenacher was fifth, suffer- ing with a pre-existing shoulder injury that he will have operated on during the long summer break. In the championship points, Sofuoglu has 146, Krummen- acher 106, Jacobsen 92 and Rea 78. The next round is not until September 18th, at the Lausitzring in Germany. Gordon Richie PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE Eventual winner Kenan Sofuoglu (1) battles with Federico Carica- sulo in WorldSSP.