World Supersport

The Supersport World Championship for the medium cylinder sector bikes continues its unpredictable run with four different winners in four rounds and a spectacular start to the season. The group is headed by former double champ, Turkey’s Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki DeltaFin Lorenzini) who after claiming the opening round win has proved to be the most consistent rider in terms of results and placements. The chasing group is led by Sam Lowes (Bogdanka PTR Honda), who is yet to win a race but who provided such a great spectacle to finish runner-up at Monza, a result that allowed him to cut the gap to the Turk to just ten points. Unlike Superbike, Supersport is run over a single race format and each win assigns 25 points.

The biggest step forward in this sense has been made by series newcomer Jules Cluzel (PTR Honda) who was brilliant in the wet to conquer his first win in the category and move to within 13 points of Sofuoglu. Just one point ahead of Cluzel is his fellow Frenchman Fabien Foret (Kawasaki Intermoto Step) who is still up in the leading positions despite only notching up four points in the last two outings.

Alex Baldolini (Power Team by Suriano Triumph) is the leading Italian in the points, in fifth place and the only man capable of keeping up with the front-runners, if one excludes Lorenzo Lanzi who dominated in the wet at Assen in a one-off outing. Baldolini knows Donington well, having raced there in Moto2, while right behind him is Australian Broc Parkes (Ten Kate Racing Products Honda) whose season has gone from bad to worse recently after he crashed out of the lead at Monza.

The Donington weekend event schedule will not include the two Superstock categories or the KTM European Junior Cup which now take a break until the next round at Misano on June 8-10.

Points (after 4 of 13 rounds): 1. Sofuoglu 61; 2. Lowes 51; 3. Foret 49; 4. Cluzel 48; 5. Baldolini 34; 6. Parkes 29; 7. Leonov 26; 8. Lanzi 25; etc. Manufacturers: 1. Honda 86; 2. Kawasaki 86; 3. Yamaha 40; 4. Triumph 40; 5. Suzuki 6.