Sofuoglu is ultimately targeting an unprecedented fifth world championship title in 2016 but his more immediate focus is on winning the Misano race on his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R for a second time in his career. His 2012 season victory at the Italian circuit was one of his first as a Kawasaki rider but he has now scored more individual race successes on a ZX-6R than the total of wins he had accumulated before 2012.
In terms of career records Sofuoglu is ahead of any other rider in the WorldSSP class. He has amassed four world titles, 35 race wins, 74 podium places, 27 pole positions, 26 fastest laps, 89 front row starts and a grand total of 1,790 championship points.
As a WorldSSP rookie in 2016 Krummenacher arrived at full pace for his Italian based team, winning first time out in Australia and finishing on the podium on two further occasions, including at the most recent round at Donington Park in the UK.
Misano as a venue is well known to Krummenacher from his recent Moto2 career and he enjoys the challenges posed by the flat yet flowing 4.226km track layout. At a home round for his Puccetti Racing team Randy as always aims to win and add yet another positive podium experience to the strong relationship he has built up with his team and the official Ninja ZX-6R from the very first contact in 2016.
So far this season Sofuoglu has won three races and earned five podiums all in, while Krummenacher has one win and three podium finishes in total. These results have contributed strongly to Kenan leading the championship points table with 121 and Randy challenging in second with 95.
After the Misano round there is a long break for the WorldSSP competitors, as they will not join the WorldSBK class at the American round in early July, but re-start their championship push in Germany from September 16th to 18th, in round nine of 12.
Kenan Sofuoglu, stated: “I had a race victory once before at Misano, in 2012 on a Kawasaki, and the time is right to win there again as it has been a long time since I won there. It is a good track, especially after they changed the tarmac. The last few years at Misano I could not get the result I really wanted but this year we are very strong and our new suspension has helped make it a different story. I do not think it is going to be easy at this round and I am waiting for a hard battle but I am also very confident for Misano. My motivation is in a good situation so I expect a very good result.”
Randy Krummenacher, stated: “I am already in Misano and the weather is nice and warm so it is all good. I have been in this area for some time now, training on the bicycle and so on, so it is really nice to go racing again soon. Misano has some fast and some slow corners but in the end it is all in one nice flow. You do not have any stop and go and you can keep up a good speed, even in the slow corners. I really love that aspect and it suits me. I think we found some good things in the base set-up of the bike at Donington and I feel we will be able to make another step here. I cannot wait to get on track.”