WSSP Qatar: Cluzel finishes vice-world champion

Third in the Supersport final tonight at Losail, Jules Cluzel finally obtained second place in the world championship! Winner of the Qatari race in 2015, Kyle Smith does it again this year, beating Kenan Sofuoglu by 6 thousandths of a second…

Departure : Kenan Sofuoglu took off very quickly from his second place on the grid but Alex Baldolini propelled himself even better from second row and dived into the first corner in front of Randy Krummenacher, Jules Cluzel, Kenan Sofuoglu, Kyle Smith, Patrick Jacobsen, Zulfahmi Khairuddin, the poleman Luke Stapelford, Xavier Pinsach, etc.

Alex Baldolini escapes in the 1st lap while Stapelford and Pinsach fall in the 10th lap. The Italian leader attacks the first line alone, in front of a peloton where several pilots are fighting head-on! Smith and Cluzel, however, manage to break away in the 2nd lap and both overtake the MV Agusta # 25 at the end of the straight..

At the controls of his CBR600RR, PJ Jacobsen tries to join the three leading men and brings in his wake the two ZX-6R n ° 21 and n ° 1 of Krummenacher and Sofuoglu. Khairuddin and Gamarino on their own Ninja try to hang on.

Sofuoglu accelerates in the 3rd lap, passes his Swiss teammate and gets closer to the American Jacobsen. The five-time world champion is 1.5 seconds behind the leading trio led by Smith … then by Cluzel from the 4th lap !

Kawasaki n ° 1 passes in front of Honda n ° 2 in a winding section and sets off in pursuit of MV Agusta n ° 25 which follows Honda n ° 111 and MV Agusta n ° 16 at a few lengths. Smith takes back the reins of the race on 5th passage in front of the pits…

On the 7th lap, Sofuoglu won a new place by overtaking Baldolini in the middle of a rapid sequence! The Turkish pilot thus climbs on the podium and aims for the second step occupied by our national "Julo", half a second ahead of him..

Kenan passed Jules in the long Qatari straight and then focused on the CBR600RR which led the race a second and a half ahead. Baldolini let go and was caught by Jacobsen who passed him down the straight. Krummenacher in turn finds himself in the wheel of the Italian and his F3.

Lodged in Alex’s wheel throughout the 10th lap, Randy Krummenacher waits for the straight line to pass Alex Baldolini. Five good seconds ahead, Kyle Smith is slowly but surely caught by Kenan Sofuoglu. Jules Cluzel is not fast enough…

The five-time world champion fits in the leader’s wheel in the last corner of the 11th lap and takes advantage of the suction to take control of the race in the straight line. One lap later, however, Smith sets the fastest lap and takes back the lead … There are only two laps left. !

Kenan stays in Kyle’s wheel during the penultimate lap and unleashes his attack at the very beginning of the last … The Kawasaki rider Pucetti plunges his helmet behind his bubble, but his rival does not leave him with a Pirelli! A little too wide in the penultimate curve, Kenan comes out a little less strong than Kyle…

The winner of the final last year raises his Honda to the level of the Kawasaki in the stretch and plants a magnificent braking inside the "Number One"! Conscientiously housed in Kyle’s wheel when accelerating, Kenan tries to dislodge his opponent before the finish line but fails, for 6 thousandths of a second…

Jules Cluzel and his F3 tumble under the checkered flag two seconds after the "winners". Championship rival Randy Krummenacher finishes this last race of the 2016 season in fifth place behind PJ Jacobsen.

Our "Coq Supersportif" finally takes second place in the 2016 WSSP championship. Let us hope that this result, rather unexpected in view of his difficult season, will give him a good handlebars for the 2017 season … To be continued, stay tuned !

 

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