"The big thing for me today
[Sunday] is that, unlike Mo-
toAmerica, the flag-to-flag rule
means that even if it's spitting
rain, you can still race on slick
tires," Gagne said. "Towards the
end, I started going faster and
faster and I even set my personal
fastest time of the whole week-
end on the very last lap. Twelfth
place is not bad, but I feel I had
the potential to do much better
today."
After miracles in race one and
an incorrect hard rear tire choice
in race two, Sykes' seventh
place puts him only nine points
ahead of Davies with four races
to go.
Out front Rea ended up his
French adventure into the his-
tory books 120 points ahead
of Sykes. The next round is in
Spain, at Jerez, from October
20-22.
WorldSSP
Just as it looked like the five
times World Champion Kenan
Sofuoglu would inexorably win
his sixth title, having taken over
the championship lead last time
out, a triple hip fracture during a
Superpole 2 crash put him out of
the Magny-Cours race weekend.
And maybe more. With this kind
of thing not easily fixed, although
he went home to Turkey for
surgery anyway, it left the field
open for previous champion-
ship leader Lucas Mahias (GRT
Yamaha WorldSSP) to jump
forward again.
Trouble is, he was also a heavy
faller, hurting his right leg and
wrist more than he was letting on.
This made his ride to fourth
place, in front of his home fans
in France, of course, an even
more impressive feat than it
reads on paper.
The glory up front was taken
by last year's find Niki Tuuli (Kal-
lio Yamaha) who became the
sixth different race winner this
year, and the fifth new winner.
He won a race that turned into
a final-lap fight against another
young gun with a 2017 race win
to his name, Federico Caricasulo
(GRT Yamaha WorldSSP).
The last podium place was
taken by the forceful American,
PJ Jacobsen (MV Agusta Repar-
to Corse). Off the podiums since
Imola way back in May, he was
determined to get onto the top
steps and third was his Magny-
Cours peak, almost six seconds
from the win.
"The last seven or eight laps
there was a huge drop in grip for
me, so I could not go forward
with the two Yamahas," Jacob-
sen said. "That was the best we
could do today and it is good to
get onto the podium again."
With Mahias fourth his fellow
French rider Jules Cluzel (CIA
Landlords Insurance Honda)
was fifth, and stand-in MV Rider
Lorenzo Zanetti (Team Factory
Vamag) sixth.
In the points, Mahias has 154,
the surely unable to continue
Kenan Sofuoglu has 145, Morais
is at 122 and Cluzel 115. Only
those four can win it, but barring
miracles it looks more like a case
of only Mahias can lose it.
Gordon Ritchie
IN
THE
WIND
P48
Niki Tuuli finally delivered on the
promise he's shown for so long by
winning WorldSSP in France.
