Leading on the first and last laps, Jules Cluzel (Yamaha R6) did not have an easy time this Sunday in Italy, and there were many surprises that punctuated this Supersport race.
The first took place even before departure, when Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki), qualified 3rd, put his machine away in the box after the warm-up lap to greet the public: what was supposed to be the last race of the 5-time world champion was not, and the Turkish driver concluded his 15th anniversary career in Supersport without taking the risk of racing too much...
When the red lights go out, Jules cluzel made the best start and took command in front Lucas Mahias (Yamaha R6), Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha R6) and Federico Caricasulo (Yamaha R6). However, we could see that the 2 official Yamaha riders had a little extra, and Jules cluzel had to bow to Lucas Mahias in the 3rd round, then in front Federico Caricasulo in the next passage.
Since then, Lucas Mahias managed to escape in front of his teammate and the race seemed decided when the French driver crashed on the 5th lap.
Federico Caricasulo took over but made a small mistake 3 laps later, leaving Jules Cluzel in command, just ahead of Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta) and Sandro Cortese (Yamaha) who was battling on his wheel.
The 11 laps which then separated the Frenchman from the finish line must have seemed very long to him, but he held on, despite a solid recovery. Federico Caricasulo from which we feared an attack for victory in the last turns.
Jules cluzel : " I'm very happy ! Winning 2 races in a row is great! It seems to me that this has never happened to me before. It was a really tough race, as tough as in Assen. It was a different race, but also tough. The pace wasn't very fast, but I tried to do my best. When Lucas passed me at the start of the race, I just couldn't follow him without making a mistake. So I tried to concentrate on my race. Then Federico made a mistake too, and from there I just did my race trying to stay focused until the end and push the battle until the last lap. In the last lap I just tried to breathe and do my best not to have any attack. And that’s what happened, so I’m super happy! »
Lucas Mahias, for his part, returned to the track in 20th position to cross the finish line in 8th place.
The world championship rankings are obviously upset, Randy Krummenacher, finished 5th in Imola, now having 2 points ahead of Montois, 4 on Sandra Cortese and 6 on Jules Cluzel: everything is tight!
Photo credit: Marco Lanfranchi
