Kenan back on top
Kenan made a breakthrough with his 2009-spec machine to win the Miller round of the World Supersport Championship last Sunday, after a few rounds where his and his Hannspree Ten Kate team's confidence had taken something of a battering.
The Turkish rider, along with all the established forces of World Supersport, had been losing podium places and valuable points to the new boys Cal Crutchlow and Eugene Laverty, who had won every recent round between them, until Sofuoglu's speed and determination won out in Miller. The nature of his win in the USA was as important as the win itself, as he picked off three of his main rivals near the end of the race, when the finishing order had appeared to be already decided, and recent form should have seen Sofuoglu fading, not improving.
Sofuoglu's hard passes included one in which he was swapping paint with leader Laverty, who has seized the crown of top Honda rider from Sofuoglu this year, not to mention his team-mate Andrew Pitt as well. With Hannspree Ten Kate's pride regained, and a new base set-up delivering instant results, the WSS series has gone from frantic to frenetic, and the next few rounds should be extra-intense.
Said Sofuoglu after his win, "I am so very happy to be back on the top step of the podium again. Our results have not been so good recently but we made some really big changes to the bike this weekend in America; even in warm-up this morning we were changing the set-up but I knew then that I had a bike that I could win with. Cal and Eugene were really fast today and it was very difficult to catch them after I had finally passed Lascorz. The last lap was really good though - I think I might have touched with Eugene on the way through and you could say it was a hard move. But racing is a hard sport. It was a great feeling to win again and I have to say a really big thank you to the team for working so hard for me."
