Kawasaki Mahi Racing Team India rider Kenan Sofuoglu took a fabulous victory on home soil after competing with his championship rival Sam Lowes all the way though a dramatic 16-lap Supersport race.
At one stage it looked like Lowes may have too much pace for Sofuoglu, despite the intense home support for the Turkish rider, but Sofuoglu drew on every scrap of experience and all the performance of his Ninja ZX-6R to pass and re-pass Lowes on the final few corners and come out on top by the narrow margin of 0.040 seconds.
Such was the speed of the leading duo at the fast and flowing Istanbul Park circuit that Kenan was over nine seconds up on the third place rider at the flag.
In the championship itself Kenan kept his championship hopes alive with this remarkable victory and he is now 49 point adrift of Lowes, with 50 points remaining for any rider who wins both the remaining rounds. This was Kenan‰Ûªs fourth win of the season, and the 25th of his glittering WSS career.
‰ÛÏTo win my home race was just incredible," Sofuoglu beamed. "There were so many people supporting me I just had to bring the Turkish flag to the front. I tried everything so I am so happy for them as well.
"Sam was really fast and at one time and I was thinking he might get away, because we had chosen two different tyre options. I thought his choice would work better in the warm conditions but I just did not give up and tried everything to stay with him.
"I knew if I kept pushing maybe he would give up and finally I closed the gap very slowly. On the last two laps the goal was just to win this race because winning in Turkey is something like winning the title for me. This was the first time I have raced at a home track after 12 years of competition in Europe. Winning the race is something like a dream for us in Turkey," he concluded.
