Having already won five races this year and seen his main championship rival Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta) crash out with what appeared to be season-ending injuries in practice at the last round in Spain, Kenan only has to make sure he leaves Magny-Cours 25 points ahead of America’s PJ Jacobsen (Honda) to lift his fourth world title.
With more race wins in 2015 to his credit than Jacobsen can match (five to a possible three), Kenan just needs to cross the finish line at Magny-Cours with an advantage of 25 or more over his only remaining championship rival. Even if Jacobsen wins in France, if Sofuoglu secures the 20-points for second place they will be more than enough to ensure he will be champion before leaving French soil. The 16 points for third would be just one point less than Sofuoglu needs to make the matter certain at the penultimate round, but only if Jacobsen wins at Magny-Cours.
The form of Sofuoglu and his Ninja ZX-6R has been strong and consistent in 2015, with his 100% race finish and points scoring record coming along in his fourth season as a Kawasaki rider, but his first with his Kawasaki Puccetti Racing team.
The remarkable Sofuoglu now has 32 WSS race wins, 67 podium places, 22 pole positions and 25 fastest laps spread through a career that first started as a full-time WSS rider in 2006. He had his first WSS wildcard experiences the 2003 season and missed a full WSS season in 2011 after making a short-term swap to the Moto2 championship.
At Magny-Cours Sofuoglu has won twice before. The first victory in France came way back in 2007 and the most recent Magny-Cours success was with Kawasaki in 2013.
Marco Faccani (San Carlo Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) aims to make up more ground in the championship standings this time around, having taken a sixth place in the previous round on his team’s Ninja ZX-6R. It was his second best ride of his full rookie season, after finishing inside the top five at Imola.
Christian Gamarino (Go Eleven Kawasaki) is currently one place and two points ahead of Faccani in the championship standings, with Gamarino ninth and Faccani tenth.
Dominic Schmitter (Go Eleven Kawasaki) is 14th overall after ten rounds, with a season best of seventh at the Motorland Aragon round.
Like their colleagues in the Superbike class, the Supersport riders will head to Losail in Qatar after the completion of the Magny-Cours weekend, for the final round of the season. It will be round 12 for the WSS competitors but round 13 for the Superbike riders as Sofuoglu and his peers did not have a race in the United States this season.
Kenan Sofuoglu stated: “This year has been like a Kawasaki year. I am very happy that Toprak Razgatlioglu took the Superstock 600 championship, Jonathan Rea has won the Superbike title and now it is up to me. If I can make a good result in Magny-Cours I will win the Supersport World Championship. I think it is a dream year for Kawasaki and I think it is going to be a good season if we can do a good race in Magny-Cours. It looks like we are very strong at the moment. The only sore point is that Jules Cluzel is not there because he was our main competition and now he cannot fight for the title. So now it is me and Jacobsen head to head.”