WorldSSP
Lucas Mahias (GRT
Official Yamaha Team)
won the WorldSSP
Championship in his
first full season at
Losail, having been put
into champion-elect ter-
ritory after Kenan So-
fuoglu (Kawasaki Puc-
cetti Racing) crashed
so hard he fractured his
pelvis in three places at
Magny Cours just five
weeks ago.
Mahias had also
fractured his right
scaphoid at Magny
Cours but kept it as quiet as
possible. He had nowhere near
full movement and strength, so
he had his own medical issues
to overcome to be the champion
on the new R6.
The only man who could stop
him in Qatar was the five-time
champion, Sofuoglu. Because
his fractures were not displaced,
because he lobbied forcefully
that he was okay to ride and
because he was miraculously
walking when he should have
been bedbound for 12 weeks
or so, he was allowed to com-
pete in FP1, then the rest of the
weekend.
Mahias stood tall and won,
fighting even right across the
line for what would be only his
second win of the year.
He and countryman Jules
Cluzel (CIA Landlord Insurance
Honda) were so close that Clu-
zel ran onto the trackside gravel
in his desire to win for the first
time this year, as they crossed
the line, separated by only
0.023 seconds after 15 laps.
With Cluzel second, and
finally third in the championship,
Sofuoglu was an impossible
third in the race. From sick bed
to the podium, as he said, risk-
ing literally everything to win.
Sofuoglu had started cagily,
avoiding any potential clashes,
and was ninth after one lap. He
moved up, passing with relative
ease despite his lack of full race
fitness. He found the aggres-
sive Federico Caricasulo (GRT
Yamaha) tough to stay ahead
of in the final stages but he
pounced again and won his per-
sonal battle on track, and with
potential disaster. It was in any
measure of bike racing courage,
heroic stuff.
Behind the top four Anthony
West (Kawasaki) was fifth,
Finnish star Niki Tuuli (Yamaha)
sixth, Sheridan Morais (Yamaha)
seventh and Luke Stapleford's
Triumph eighth.
PJ Jacobsen's MV Agusta quit
on him, leaving him sixth overall.
Gordon Ritchie
WorldSBK
RACE 1
1. Jonathan Rea (Kaw)
2. Chaz Davies (Duc)
3. Marco Melandri (Duc)
4. Eugene Laverty (Apr)
5. Lorenzo Savadori (Apr)
RACE 2
1. Jonathan Rea (Kaw)
2. Chaz Davies (Duc)
3. Alex Lowes (Yam)
4. Michael van der Mark (Yam)
5. Xavi Fores (Duc)
IN
THE
WIND
P36
Lucas Mahias
(144) clinched
the title with
the narrowest
of victories in
WorldSSP.
