Submitted by Jared Earle on
World Supersport would race 16 windy laps with Kenan Sofuoglu returning to the grid and the start of the ESS championship. Gino Rea was penalised three places on the grid for alleged irresponsible behaviour in Superpole two.
Sheridan Morais and Lucas Mahias took to the front, with Kyle Smith, Kenan Sofuoglu and PJ Jacobsen following. Smith worked his way to second place on the first lap and ended the second lap in first place ahead of the Yamahas of Morais and Mahias.
A lap later, Kenan Sofuoglu passed PJ Jacobsen into the first turn and Niki Tuuli followed him through shortly after, but when Tuuli passed Sofuoglu a lap later, Jacobsen was able to make a pass on Sofuoglu stick too.
On lap five, Morais blasted past Smith into turn one, taking over the lead. Niki Tuuli pushed to try to catch Mahias in third but crashed at turn nine, launching his bike through the gravel at hight speed. A lao pater, Smith was taken at turn one for the second lap in a row, with Lucas Mahias doing the honours this time. A lap later, Mahias passed Morais and Kyle Smith passed him a few turns later, pushing him off line enough for PJ Jacobsen to dart through to take third.
Kyle Smith then passed Lucas Mahias and set his eyes on Sheridan Morais in the lead. Smith tried to close on Morais in a chicane entry, but carried too much speed and lean angle for the tyre and wind, losing the front and crashing out of the race. Federico Caricasulo, having passed Sofuoglu and Jacobsen inherited third place as a result and heading into turn one on lap eight, Morais, Mahias and Caricasulo were in the leading group, closely followed by Jacobsen and Sofuoglu.
Federico Caricasulo tried to keep up with Sheridan Morais and Lucas Mahias into turn one but his rear wheel lost grip and he slid out of his line and was immediately hit by Kenan Sofuoglu who was on a wider line than PJ Jacobsen in front of him. Sofuoglu was thrown from his bike and landed heavily on his left hip and shoulder and was limping and holding his shoulder as Caricasulo apologised profusely for the racing incident. Sofuoglu was taken to the medical centre, ending the third race weekend without scoring a point all season.
Back at the front, Jacobsen closed the gap left by Caricasulo and Morris Mahias and Jacobsen broke away from Jules Cluzel, Christian Gamarino, Michael Canducci and Robbie Rolfo in the fight for fourth. The front three kept their places in close racing until the last lap.
On the last lap, Morais and Mahias swapped places back and forth as Jacobsen looked on, keeping in their wake, and as the three hit the chicane before the long back straight, Mahias took the lead under Mahias and the pair charged down the long straight side bi side, almost touching, with Morais on the left hand side, the place to be into the last corner. Morais went into the last corner in front, but carried a little too much speed to take a defensive line and he exited on a wide line, leaving Mahias room to get past onto the start/finish straight. The pair crossed the line next to each other, with Jacobsen fifteen hundredths behind them.
Lucas Mahias took the victory from Sheridan Morais by fourteen thousandths of a second and thrust himself to the top of the championship standings. Morais thrust himself up the rankings to second and Jacobsen in third place is now sixth in the championship. Jules Cluzel took his first points of the season in fourth place ahead of Michael Canducci, while Robbie Rolfo with his sixth place drops to second place in the championship, five points behind Lucas Mahias.
Results:
Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Gap |
1 | 144 | L. MAHIAS | Yamaha YZF R6 | |
2 | 32 | S. MORAIS | Yamaha YZF R6 | 0.014 |
3 | 99 | P. JACOBSEN | MV Agusta F3 675 | 0.153 |
4 | 16 | J. CLUZEL | Honda CBR600RR | 3.598 |
5 | 65 | M. CANDUCCI | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 4.320 |
6 | 44 | R. ROLFO | MV Agusta F3 675 | 4.424 |
7 | 11 | C. GAMARINO | Honda CBR600RR | 9.407 |
8 | 77 | K. RYDE | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 17.064 |
9 | 38 | H. SOOMER | Honda CBR600RR | 23.098 |
10 | 81 | L. STAPLEFORD | Triumph Daytona 675 | 26.140 |
11 | 78 | H. OKUBO | Honda CBR600RR | 31.703 |
12 | 47 | R. HARTOG | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 31.742 |
13 | 69 | X. CARDELUS GARCIA | MV Agusta F3 675 | 31.780 |
14 | 63 | Z. KHAIRUDDIN | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 31.912 |
15 | 26 | K. WATANABE | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 32.717 |
16 | 111 | K. SMITH | Honda CBR600RR | 32.816 |
17 | 41 | A. WAGNER | Honda CBR600RR | 37.288 |
18 | 10 | N. CALERO | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 37.397 |
19 | 56 | P. SEBESTYÉN | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 38.220 |
20 | 83 | L. EPIS | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 57.076 |
21 | 35 | S. HILL | Triumph Daytona 675 | 1'06.111 |
22 | 73 | J. CRETARO | Suzuki GSX-R600 | 1'07.183 |
23 | 92 | H. KUNIKAWA | Honda CBR600RR | 1'15.931 |
24 | 74 | J. VAN SIKKELERUS | Yamaha YZF R6 | 1'23.663 |
25 | 177 | N. AL MALKI | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 1'28.596 |
RET | 64 | F. CARICASULO | Yamaha YZF R6 | 9 Laps |
RET | 1 | K. SOFUOGLU | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 9 Laps |
RET | 4 | G. REA | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 10 Laps |
RET | 66 | N. TUULI | Yamaha YZF R6 | 12 Laps |
RET | 84 | L. CRESSON | Yamaha YZF R6 | 12 Laps |
RET | 61 | A. ZACCONE | MV Agusta F3 675 | 1 |
RET | 70 | R. MULHAUSER | Honda CBR600RR |
Comments
Cracking race!
Great racing so far in WSS, including this Aragon fireworks. No discredit to the top 3 in current championship standings (Mahias, Rolfo, Morais), but those weren't the names in the script! From the #1 spot, PJ is down 9 pts, Jules down 32 pts, and Keenan's name doesn't even appear on the list. With (only) 10 more races to go, we get to see how (and if) they keep themselves together & make their way back up to the top; a true showcase of what champions are made of.
On a sidenote - this kid Tuuli caught my attention last year & it looks like he has the fire & the speed in him to compete amongst the top. Get himself some experience & few race finishes, I'd like to think he'll be fighting for podium consistently soon enough.