2012 World Supersport
Sam Lowes (Bogdanka PTR Honda) took his first career win in the FIM Supersport World Championship after converting a second place on the grid into a full points score.
Lowes had been through some troubled times in practice after he picked up a nasty stomach infection of some kind, meaning he had been ill from Friday onwards. He then fell in second qualifying on Saturday, suffering severe injury to the small finger of his left hand and losing the chance to go for pole.
Lowes overcame the early push of pole position rider Jules Cluzel (PTR Honda) and despite the coming menace of double world champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) Lowes held on to win by upping the pace on the final two laps and taking himself to within five points of the championship lead.
Both Cluzel and Lowes gained from their podium finishes, with Lowes on 76 points to Sofuoglu’s 81, while Cluzel is now third overall, on 64. The French rider put his knowledge of Donington to good use and was delighted like his peers not to meet any rainy conditions, which allowed him to find a good race set-up.
Broc Parkes (Ten Kate Racing Products Honda) had good early pace, but dropped out of contention as his rear lost grip and he finished fourth in the race, moving up to fifth in the championship – albeit 39 points behind the leading rider.
Seventh for Ronan Quarmby (PTR Honda) at Donington was result that pushed him up to seventh place overall. He was satisfied in one way as he had only qualified 11th, and is now only four points from the rider ahead.
A great ride from Valentine Debise (SMS Racing Honda) placed him eighth; with his only score of the year so far giving him eight points on one fell swoop. He had a strong ninth place in qualifying to thank for his good start, riding to sixth after one lap and keeping a good pace throughout.
Sam Lowes (Bogdanka PTR Honda) says: “Obviously I was out to get my first win and some people may say it was a long time coming. I have made some mistakes, but today I used my head a little bit more and I am really happy for the result. The team is doing well because Jules won last weekend and I won this weekend.
“It so good having Jules in the team because we got on really well and we push each other on. Hopefully we can come on well for the second part of the season. The bike has been fantastic all year so I am really enjoying everything at the minute. It’s great to take my first World Supersport victory in front of my home crowd and I’m really grateful for the support. There’s a bit of a break now which is good as I can sort out my injured finger. I’ll be training hard to come to Misano as fit as ever and ready to rock and roll.”
2012 Donington World Supersport: Round 5 Results:
1. Sam Lowes 33m 43.603s GBR HONDA Bogdanka PTR Honda
2. Kenan Sofuoglu 0.678s TUR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Deltafin Lorenzini
3. Jules Cluzel 3.987s FRA HONDA PTR Honda
4. Broc Parkes 8.088s AUS HONDA Ten Kate Racing Products Honda
5. Glen Richards 11.786s AUS TRIUMPH Smiths Gloucester
6. Sheridan Morais 20.849s RSA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Deltafin Lorenzini
7. Ronan Quarmby 23.795s RSA HONDA PTR Honda
8. Valentine Debise 24.094s FRA HONDA SMS Racing
9. Billy McConnell 26.663s AUS TRIUMPH Smiths Gloucester
10. Fabien Foret 26.806s FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Intermoto Step
11. Roberto Tamburini 29.832s ITA HONDA Team Lorini
12. Alex Baldolini 33.755s ITA TRIUMPH Power Team by Suriano
13. Jed Metcher 34.035s AUS YAMAHA Rivamoto
14. Massimo Roccoli 34.311s ITA YAMAHA Bike Service by WTR Ten 10
15. Luke Mossey 34.601s AUS TRIUMPH Smiths Gloucester
16. Martin Jessopp 46.853s GBR HONDA PTR Honda
17. Kieran Clarke 47.133s GBR HONDA Bogdanka PTR Honda
18. Ilario Dionisi 48.506s ITA HONDA Prorace
19. Romain Lanusse 50.129s FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Intermoto Step
20. Luca Marconi 53.157s ITA YAMAHA VFT Racing
21. David Linortner 53.232s AUT YAMAHA Gerin-Skm Racing Team
22. Andrea Antonelli 00.246s ITA HONDA Team Lorini
23. Dino Lombardi 1m 03.852s ITA YAMAHA Team PATA by Martini
24. Fabio Menghi 1m 09.505s ITA YAMAHA VFT Racing
25. Thomas Caiani +1 Lap SUI HONDA Kuja Racing
26. Eduard Blokhin +1 Lap RUS YAMAHA Rivamoto
27. Roberto Anastasia DNF – 14 Laps ITA HONDA Kuja Racing
28. Raffaele De Rosa DNF – 12 Laps ITA HONDA Team Lorini
29. Vittorio Iannuzzo DNF – 11 Laps ITA TRIUMPH Power Team by Suriano
30. Mathew Scholtz DNF – 10 Laps RSA HONDA Bogdanka PTR Honda
31. Yves Polzer DNF – 10 Laps AUT YAMAHA Team MRC Austria
32. Imre Toth DNF – 8 Laps HUN HONDA Racing Team Toth
33. Joshua Day DNF – 4 Laps USA KAWASAKI Team GOELEVEN
34. Balazs Nemeth DNF HUN HONDA Racing Team Toth
2012 WOrld Supersport Championship Standings (After five of 14 rounds:
1. Kenan Sofuoglu 81 pts TUR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Deltafin Lorenzini
2. Sam Lowes 76 pts GBR HONDA Bogdanka PTR Honda
3. Jules Cluzel 64 pts FRA HONDA PTR Honda
4. Fabien Foret 55 pts FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Intermoto Step
5. Broc Parkes 42 pts AUS HONDA Ten Kate Racing Products Honda
6. Alex Baldolini 38 pts ITA TRIUMPH Power Team by Suriano
7. Ronan Quarmby 34 pts RSA HONDA PTR Honda
8. Sheridan Morais 27 pts RSA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Deltafin Lorenzini
9. Vladimir Leonov 26 pts RUS YAMAHA Yakhnich Motorsport
10. Vittorio Iannuzzo 25 pts ITA TRIUMPH Power Team by Suriano
11. Roberto Tamburini 25 pts ITA HONDA Team Lorini
12. Lorenzo Lanzi 25 pts ITA HONDA Prorace
13. Andrea Antonelli 25 pts ITA HONDA Team Lorini
14. Massimo Roccoli 18 pts ITA YAMAHA Bike Service by WTR Ten 10
15. Jed Metcher 14 pts AUS YAMAHA Rivamoto
16. Imre Toth 13 pts HUN HONDA Racing Team Toth
17. Stefano Cruciani 11 pts ITA KAWASAKI Puccetti Racing Kawasaki Itali
18. Glen Richards 11 pts AUS TRIUMPH Smiths Gloucester
19. Luca Marconi 10 pts ITA YAMAHA VFT Racing
20. Balazs Nemeth 9 pts HUN HONDA Racing Team Toth
21. Valentine Debise 8 pts FRA HONDA SMS Racing
22. Twan Van Poppel 8 pts NED YAMAHA TRG Motorsport
23. Romain Lanusse 8 pts FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Intermoto Step
24. Joshua Day 8 pts USA KAWASAKI Team GOELEVEN
25. Billy McConnell 7 pts AUS TRIUMPH Smiths Gloucester
26. Stuart Voskamp 6 pts NED SUZUKI Konvi Racing Team
27. Raffaele De Rosa 6 pts ITA HONDA Team Lorini
28. Lukas Pesek 6 pts CZE HONDA Prorace
29. Thomas Caiani 4 pts SUI HONDA Kuja Racing
30. Patrick Jacobsen 3 pts USA HONDA PTR Honda
31. Mathew Scholtz 2 pts RSA HONDA Bogdanka PTR Honda
32. Kieran Clarke 2 pts GBR HONDA Bogdanka PTR Honda
33. Martin Jessopp 1 pts GBR HONDA PTR Honda
34. Luke Mossey 1 pts AUS TRIUMPH Smiths Gloucester
35. Fabio Menghi 1 pts ITA YAMAHA VFT Racing
36. Yves Polzer 0 pts AUT YAMAHA Team MRC Austria
37. Roberto Anastasia 0 pts ITA HONDA Kuja Racing
38. Mirko Giansanti 0 pts ITA KAWASAKI Puccetti Racing Kawasaki Itali
39. Ilario Dionisi 0 pts ITA HONDA Prorace
40. Giovanni Altomonte 0 pts ITA HONDA Kuja Racing
41. Eduard Blokhin 0 pts RUS YAMAHA Rivamoto
42. Dino Lombardi 0 pts ITA YAMAHA Team PATA by Martini
43. David Linortner 0 pts AUT YAMAHA Gerin-Skm Racing Team
44. Cristiano Erbacci 0 pts ITA YAMAHA Bike Service by WTR Ten 10
