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HANNspree Ten Kate Honda >> Sofuoglu second in South Africa

May 21 2010

Ten Kate Racing - Nieuwsbrief

Kenan Sofuoglu finished second in today’s sixth round World Supersport championship race at Kyalami in South Africa, taking the lead in the points standings by a single point from race winner, Eugene Laverty. Sofuoglu’s Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Michele Pirro, finished in fourth place after 23 laps of the 4.263km circuit just north of Johannesburg.
Taking the holeshot from second place on the grid, Sofuoglu battled with Laverty for the early laps before the Honda-mounted Irishman put in a small break, which he extended to four seconds by the flag.

Pirro, meanwhile, displayed good pace in the early laps before succumbing to a sore arm and shoulder sustained in a practice crash on Friday afternoon.

Kenan Sofuoglu – 2nd
It certainly wasn’t an easy race and, in the beginning, it wasn’t a problem to stay with Eugene. As the race progressed, I tried to push to close the gap but ended up nearly losing the front a few times, so I said to myself, “OK, let’s take the podium and the points.” I think we’ll be stronger with the CBR in the last part of the season. I’ll still try to take maximum points from every race, but I have to say big congratulations to Eugene, because today he really did a very good job.

Michele Pirro – 4th
I hurt my left shoulder in the crash on Friday and after ten laps today I was really in a lot of pain and found it very difficult to change direction. It wasn’t too bad in the early laps but when Davies went past me it was very hard for me to respond, especially when the tyre was gone later in the race. However, the bike felt really good today and I am very happy to finish the race again. I will try hard to get back to the podium now in the next few races.

Ronald ten Kate – team-manager
Well, the aim of course was to win today’s race and put both our riders on the podium. Although that didn’t happen, we’re still in a positive mood. We’re leading the championship now and getting closer to the second half of the season. That’s significant because we will have the suspension and set-up data from the second half of last year following our switch to Andreani Ohlins suspension. I think it’s fair to say that we should be stronger with that knowledge.

2010 World Supersport championship – round six
Kyalami, South Africa (4.263km – 23 laps) – results:
1. Eugene Laverty (IRL) Honda 39’13.215s
2. Kenan Sofuoglu (TUR) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda +4.184s
3. Chaz Davies (GBR) Triumph +9.609s
4. Michele Pirro (ITA) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda +12.912s

Championship points after six of 13 rounds:
1 Sofuoglu 117, 2 Laverty 116, 3 Joan Lascorz 112, 4 Davies , 6 Pirro 47

Next round: Miller Motorsports Park, USA – 29-31 May

HANNspree Ten Kate Honda is sponsored by Hotbodies Racing and uses our windscreens and bodywork on all of their bikes. Hotbodies Racing specializes in manufacturing high-performance parts for high-performance sportbikes, and is the North American distribution of KR Tuned performance parts. Hotbodies Racing is the market leader in Undertails, Huggers, Windscreens, Flush-Mount Signals, Megaphone Exhausts and full-race Bodywork. Hotbodies Racing supports the sport with sponsorship around the world and encourages dealer and distributor inquiries. For more information visit: www.HOTBODIESRACING.com.