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HANNspree Ten Kate Honda >> Sofuoglu maintains advantage in Germany

September 05 2010

Ten Kate Racing - Nieuwsbrief

Hannspree Ten Kate Honda rider Kenan Sofuoglu finished second in today’s 11th round World Supersport championship race at the Nurburgring in Germany. The race was won by series rival and fellow Honda rider Eugene Laverty. The result confirmed Honda’s domination of the championship and secured the Japanese firm’s eighth successive World Supersport Manufacturers’ title.

Sofuoglu, 26, originally finished the 19-lap race at the historic 5.137km Nurburgring in third place, but was later promoted to second after British rider Gino Rea was disqualified for a technical infringement. The amended result leaves Sofuoglu with a 12-point championship lead over Laverty with two races remaining.

Sofuoglu’s Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Michele Pirro, battled against pain from the wrist he injured in a crash two months ago to finish eighth in today’s race. The 24-year-old Italian ended the opening lap in 15t h place before making his way through the field for a solid points finish.

Kenan Sofuoglu – 2nd
I can’t say that it’s been a nice day for me. All the weekend I’ve been quite fast but in the race I found that I had quite a big problem with the grip at the front of the bike on entry into the corner. It was really bad in some sections of the track, I had a lot of sliding and I lost the front a couple of times and had to fight my way back – it was incredible. Finally I had to settle for third place because I realised that I was riding the race with what felt like a completely different set up on the bike. After they changed the result, we have a few more points, which is useful, and now we are going to Imola, which is a circuit that I like and we have had good results there in the past. I know my crew will work hard to get the set-up back again for Imola.

Michele Pirro - 8th
Eighth is not such a good result but with the pain and no strength in my wrist it is not so bad either. I had a not very good start and I was boxed in at the first corner. After, I had to pass many riders and it was very difficult with no strength in my hand to pull hard on the brake. By the end of the race it felt very bad, but it was good to finish and important not to crash again, so I am quite happy. I have two weeks to make my body stronger for the next race in Italy where I hope for an even better result.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager
We were expecting at least for Kenan to be capable of fighting with Eugene for the whole race but there wasn’t as much grip as we anticipated – at all! So this made him struggle a bit to stay with the front runners. At the end of the day, he finished second after all so there is still a 12-point gap and I think it will all come down to the last round as we expected. Some compliments must also go to Michele who has been riding with his injury all weekend – not so much the pain, but the lack of power in his arm was holding him back a lot. But in the race he did really well and collected quite some points, so it was good to see that determination from him.

2010 World Supersport championship – round 11
Nurburgring, Germany (5.137km – 19 laps) – result:
1. Eugene Laverty (IRL) Honda 37’52.893ss
2. Kenan Sofuoglu (TUR) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda +5.072s
3. Broc Parkes (AUS) Kawasaki +15.890
4. Fabien Foret (FRA) Kawasaki +16.911s
8. Michele Pirro (ITA) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda +28.787s

Championship points after 11 of 13 rounds:
1 Sofuoglu 223, 2 Laverty 211, 3 Joan Lascorz 168, 4 Chaz Davies 137, 5 David Salom 90, 6 Robbin Harms 87.

Next round: Imola, Italy – 24-26 September

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 market leader in Windscreens, Undertails, Huggers, Flush-Mount Signals, MGP and Megaphone Exhausts, and full-race Bodywork.  Hotbodies Racing supports the sport with sponsorships around the world, and encourages dealer and distributor inquiries.  For more information visit: www.hotbodiesracing.com