Mahi Racing’s Kenan Sofuoglu dominated the second World Supersport free practice session at Imola to successfully hold off the charges from DMC Panavto-Yamaha’s Kev Coghlan.
The Scottish rider left it till the dying minutes to make his mark on the top three – but even though he bettered his times set in the opening session he was still two tenths too slow - with a 1’52.090 to topple Sofuoglu from provisional pole.
Sofuoglu was the only rider to lap in the 1’51’s and was the quickest rider after 30 minutes. The former triple champ was the first rider to reach the 1’51’s and on his 23rd lap did a 1’51.887 – only two tenths slower than the lap record set by Sam Lowes last year.
Pata Honda’s Lorenzo Zanetti was always challenging for the top spot on the timesheets and was third fastest, only for his Dutch team-mate Michael Van Der Mark going one tenth faster at the chequered flag to push the Italian down to fourth after he failed to improve on a 1’52.237. But that was only to last seconds as Zanetti redeemed himself to go back to third with a 1'52.147. Yakhnich’s Jules Cluzel rounded off the top five.
Jack Kennedy on his CIA Insurance backed Honda was able to up the pace from the previous session to go nearly one second faster. But the Dubliner was hovering around the ninth spot for most of the outing but set a 1’52.768 to go up one place and ended the day eighth quickest.
Kawasaki Intermoto’s PJ Jacobsen completed the top ten. The former MCE British Superbike contender was unable to match the pace of team-mate Florian Marino who finished sixth quickest overall. Com Plus Racing’s Fraser Rogers ended the final free practice of the day at Imola 23rd with a 1’56.753.
