2014 Sepang Supersport Results
For the third – and second consecutive – time in 2014 World Supersport, Pata Honda’s Michael van der Mark was victorious.
The CBR600RR pilot started from third on the grid, but was able to get into the lead by lap eight of 14. He remained up top, but had to fight hard take the win a mere 0.018 of second from the pole man, MV Agusta RC-Yakhnich Motorsport’s Jules Cluzel.
Taking the final podium position was former World Supersport Champion Kenan Sofuoglu aboard the Mahi Team India Kawasaki ZX-6R.
With his win, van der Mark has extended his lead to 115 points, 33 ahead of Cluzel.
“It’s been a great weekend for my first visit to Malaysia – I love this track and I love this country! From the first practice we were quite fast and yesterday morning in FP3 we showed that we had a really good race pace. I qualified third and my start was quite good, although I braked a bit too early for turn one,” van der Mark says.
“I saw I could follow Sofuoglu and Cluzel and got into quite a safe rhythm but they were a bit slower so, after six or seven laps, I passed them and tried to go away. I had a gap of almost one second but the tire was finished so I couldn’t push any harder and I didn’t want to take any risks.
“I heard Jules [Cluzel] and knew he would try to overtake me again. I was lucky in the last corner and held a really tight line. My exit wasn’t great but I just won on the finish line. I’m really thankful to the team because they didn’t have any experience here and we worked so fast, and the bike was great!”
When the race began, Sofuoglu took the lead after turn one. He was closely followed by Cluzel, van der Mark, Go Eleven Kawasaki’s Robert Rolfo, and van der Mark’s teammate Lorenzo Zanetti.
These top five riders eventually eased away from the remaining riders. By mid race, Sofuoglu was slowing, along with Rolfo and Zanetti, leaving the race up front between van der Mark and Cluzel. The two fought to the flag, with van der Mark taking the win.
Sofuoglu was next, and followed o the checkered flag by Rolfo, Zanetti and Core PTR Honda’s Ratthapark Wilairot.
Both DMC-Panavto riders, Alexey Ivanov and Kev Coghlan crashed out early on as did Fraser Rogers (SMS Complus Honda), Fabio Menghi (VFT Racing Yamaha) before Jack Kennedy (CIA Insurance Honda) took out Roberto Tamburini (San Carlo Puccetti Kawasaki), with Florian Marino (Intermoto Kawasaki Ponyexpres) falling at the same corner seconds later. All riders were uninjured, WSS reports.
The series now breaks for two weeks before heading to Misano for round seven of 13.
2014 Sepang World Supersport Results:
1. Michael van der Mark 30m23.854s NED HONDA Pata Honda World Supersport Team
2. Jules Cluzel +0.018s FRA MV MV Agusta RC-Yakhnich Motorsport
3. Kenan Sofuoglu +4.526s TUR KAWASAKI MAHI Racing Team India
4. Roberto Rolfo +4.651s ITA KAWASAKI Team GO Eleven
5. Lorenzo Zanetti +9.187s ITA HONDA Pata Honda World Supersport Team
6. Ratthapark Wilairot +12.494s THA HONDA Core PTR Honda
7. Raffaele De Rosa +13.515s ITA HONDA Core PTR Honda
8. Patrick Jacobson +20.400s USA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres
9. Zaqhwan Zaidi +20.579s MAS HONDA SIC Racing Team
10. Marco Bussolotti +29.038s ITA HONDA Team Lorini
2014 World Supersport Championship Standings:
1. Michael van der Mark 115 pts NED HONDA Pata Honda World Supersport Team
2. Jules Cluzel 82 pts FRA MV MV Agusta RC-Yakhnich Motorsport
3. Florian Marino 76 pts FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres
4. Lorenzo Zanetti 60 pts ITA HONDA Pata Honda World Supersport Team
5. Kev Coghlan 60 pts GBR YAMAHA DMC Panavto-Yamaha
6. Kenan Sofuoglu 54 pts TUR KAWASAKI MAHI Racing Team India
7. Raffaele De Rosa 54 pts ITA HONDA Core PTR Honda
8. Roberto Rolfo 49 pts ITA KAWASAKI Team GO Eleven
9. Patrick Jacobson 40 pts USA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres
10. Roberto Tamburini 37 pts ITA KAWASAKI San Carlo Puccetti Racing