Supersport: Kenan Sofuoglu beats Lucas Mahias by 0.08

It was with a lead of eight hundredths of a second that Sofuoglu managed to win ahead of Mahias at Portimao after a magnificent fight, while Jules Cluzel finished in third position. Kenan thus took first place in the Championship, 4 points ahead of Lucas.

With a one point lead in the provisional ranking of the Supersport World Championship over Kenan Sofuoglu, Lucas Mahias started from the middle of the first row of the starting grid, between the Turk in first position and the American PJ Jacobsen on the MV Official Agusta. The second line included Sheridan Morais, Jules Cluzel and Niki Tuuli. Federico Caricasulo (Mahias' teammate) formed the third with Luke Stapleford (Triumph) and Gino Rea.

Under the superb Algarve sun, Lucas Mahias was the fastest at the start ahead of PJ Jacobsen, Kenan Sofuoglu, Jules Cluzel and Federico Caricasulo. Jacobsen dove inside Mahias and took top position from him. Sofuoglu went a little wide in a corner, and shortly after Cluzel overtook him to take third place.

Sofuoglu lost a little ground on the three leaders, while Jules Cluzel, winner here at Portimao in 2012 and 2015, joined Jacobsen and Mahias. Morais in fifth position had a little difficulty following, at 1.4, ahead of Caricasulo at 1.8. Kyle Ride fell without gravity.

Behind PJ Jacobsen, Jules Cluzel took second position to the detriment of Lucas Mahias, while Kenan Sofuoglu joined the first three. Morais fifth was closing in slightly at 1.1. Jules Cluzel took first place 14 laps from the checkered flag, soon followed by Lucas Mahias who also overtook PJ Jacobsen.

Lucas Mahias took command, ahead of Jules Cluzel, Kenan Sofuoglu, PJ Jacobsen and Sheridan Morais. Then Cluzel took the lead, ahead of Sofuoglu, Mahias, Jacobsen and Morais. Caricasulo sixth was 2.5 behind, ahead of Niki Tuuli and Gamarino.

Sofuoglu took first place ahead of Mahias around halfway through the race, which gave him the lead in the Championship with 4 points ahead of the Frenchman.

Sofuoglu was ahead of Mahias by 0.2 and Cluzel by 0.5, while Morais fourth now preceded Jacobsen by 1.7 who was losing ground, at 2.05, while Tuuli sixth was at 6.5.

Two thirds of the way into the race, the fight for victory pitted Sofuoglu against Mahias and Cluzel. Morais was at 2.1, Jacobsen at 2.7 and Tuuli at 8.4. There were 20 riders left in the race, after a fairly high number of crashes. With 5 laps remaining, the gap increased slightly between the top three, with Sofuoglu 0.5 ahead of Mahias and 1.2 ahead of Cluzel.

Sofuoglu set the best lap in the race in 1'45.984, but Cluzel replied in 1'45.534. Two laps from the end, Mahias caught Sofuoglu's rear wheel, while Cluzel was 1.3 and Morais 3.2. The fight between Sofuoglu and Mahias was magnificent. The two Championship leaders approached the final lap wheel to wheel. Sofuoglu finally won with a 0.08 lead over Mahias, ahead of Cluzel, Morais and Jacobsen.

The last three rounds of the World Championship will take place in Magny-Cours on October 1st, Jerez on the 22nd and Doha on November 4th.

Race ranking:

Provisional ranking of the World Championship: