The 4.445km Phillip Island circuit in Australia is always a tough test for tyre duration and that meant that Sofuoglu made a measured start to his race, but he found himself in the mix with some less experienced riders. He was eventually run wide, right across the runoff and gravel at turn one and had to re-join way down the field.
Using all his experience and pace the Turkish star battled back to take sixth at the flag and gain ten championship points.
Faccani was concerned pre-race about tyre life but a good raceday set-up did not compromise his final performance. He felt he had made a couple of small errors on his first visit to this tricky circuit but also scored good point for 12th place.
Team Go Eleven Kawasaki riders Dominic Schmitter and Christian Gamarino placed ninth and 11th respectively, straddling the Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres Ninja ZX-6R of PJ Jacobsen in tenth. Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) did not finish the 18-lap race after entering the pits to retire.
The next round will take place in Thailand, in one month’s time, at the Chang International Circuit for the first time ever.
Kenan Sofuoglu: “It was very difficult because our pace was good and I think only Cluzel could ride at the same pace as me. I could not push in the beginning because I would not be able to complete the race because my tyres would be finished too early. So I had to save my tyre for the first four or five laps. There were other riders, who are not fast riders, who feel this is a big chance to stay with the front guys. They tried many crazy attacks and I tried to manage it with them but one rider pushed me out of the track. I had to manage some points after this and I was able to make sixth place. OK, this is better than zero points, but I cannot say I am happy with a result like this.”
Marco Faccani: “Not so bad today and my rear tyre was OK. I am happy about that because yesterday we did not know if we could finish the race well. I lost two positions at the end of the race. I tried to get into the slipstream of one rider on the finish straight, to get one place back again, but I finished so close behind him. Early in the race I made a mistake on the second lap or I could have finished two or three positions higher up than I did.”