IN
THE
WIND
P34
for the Americans, with Red
Bull Honda WorldSBK rider
Jake Gagne recording a 19th
in race one and a DNF in race
two, with Triple M Honda rider
PJ Jacobsen recording a no
start in race one and 14th in
race two.
"We were the first Honda
team in qualifying, which is a
positive thing," said Jacob-
sen. "We just did not get to
start race one, which was the
problem. We got in the points
in race two so that is pretty
positive, and we will just keep
chipping away."
Gagne said, "I felt like I was
on for a good race result, but un-
fortunately at the start I made a
mistake and I slipped the clutch
a lot, which lost me some time
and then during the first lap I
could tell something wasn't right
with the clutch. I was hoping
after a couple of laps the clutch
would recover but it continued to
get worse so I had to retire."
WorldSSP
Having won the race in Assen
last time out, Jules Cluzel (NRT
Yamaha) decided to do it all
again in Imola, but he had lots of
competition as usual.
With the grid formed up,
Kenan Sofuoglu was on the front
row for the sighting lap, but he
came into pit lane just before the
race started, and retired—in both
meanings of the word.
Cluzel led to start, then pole
man Lucas Mahias (GRT Ya-
maha) came through and pushed
away, only to crash and restart
20th.
That left a big four to fight it
out for the win, with Federico
Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha) in front
until he made a smaller mistake
than his teammate, and dropped
back to fourth.
Cluzel led across the line on
every lap from then on.
Caricasulo displaced even-
tual third-place finisher Raffaele
De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto
Corse by Vamag) on the final two
laps, but the experienced Cluzel
had done enough and held a
0.363-second advantage over
the line.
In third, De Rosa scored his
second podium of 2018, and
another MV podium that looked
impossible in what some said
was becoming a kind of Yamaha
cup race.
In the championship fight,
Krummenacher is two points
ahead only now. He has 81
points, Mahias 79, Cortese 77,
Cluzel 75 and Caricasulo still
a player on 69. Only 12 points
across the top five.
Gordon Ritchie
WORLDSBK
RACE 1
1. Jonathan Rea (Kaw)
2. Tom Sykes (Kaw)
3. Marco Melandri (Duc)
4. Chaz Davies (Duc)
5. Xavi Fores (Duc)
RACE 2
1. Jonathan Rea (Kaw)
2. Chaz Davies (Duc)
3. Tom Sykes (Kaw)
4. Xavi Fores (Duc)
5. J. Torres (MV)
WORLDSSP
1. Jules Cluzel (Yam)
2. Federico Caricasulo (Yam)
3. Raffaele De Rosa (MV)
4. Sandro Cortese (Yam)
5. Randy Krummenacher (Yam)
The last time Kenan Sofuoglu
will appear on a racing grid:
he pulled in on the sighting
lap, and retired for good.
