To be the best, you’ve got to beat the best. Going up against Kenan Sofuoğlu was no easy matter for the top riders in World Supersport, but it was necessary if you were going to move on from the feeder class.
Kenan Sofuoğlu was the benchmark upon which every WorldSSP rider was judged. If you wanted to move from the class to race a superbike or a grand prix machine, you needed to prove you could beat Sofuoğlu.
As the dominant force of the class his rivals never underestimated the challenge they faced. To mark Kenan’s retirement from motorcycle racing, we reached out to his fiercest competitors to see what they had to say about competing against the Turkish rider.
Eugene Laverty: “I had some great battles with Kenan, and I’m not saying this just because he’s retiring, but he was my toughest rival. His skill level and bravery was tremendous, and on the last lap he was so tough to beat.”
“He could put the bike where you’d not think it was possible to be, and it made him so difficult to overtake. Some of my best battles on track were against Kenan in 2010.”
“He’s been a legend of the Supersport class, and the toughest rival for so many riders to beat, and that’s why he’s won more than any other rider.”
“He was the toughest rider I went up against, and even though he beat me to the 2010 World Supersport title, he did make me the rider I am today.”
“The race that I can remember was Silverstone in 2010, because I was so strong that day and was easing away from him, but then he started to close the gap on me before starting to fight again.”
“It forced me to change my strategy at the end of the race, and on the last lap I managed to get back past him.”
Chaz Davies: “When I started racing Supersport in 2009, Kenan was the top rider, and you knew that if you were going to win in that class, you had to go through Kenan.”
“Back then, he was a rider that wouldn’t give a spare inch, and was super hard on track, but he was the yardstick for the class.”
“I remember Valencia 2010 because we were racing bar-to-bar that day, and I got my first podium. He’s a legend of the class and was so fast, committed, and just the rider you measured yourself against.”
“If you came into the Supersport class, you knew that you’d be up against him.”
“From FP1 he was fast and setting the pace for the rest of the class. If you wanted to step up from Supersport, you knew that you’d have to beat him.”
“There’s not a lot riders that stay in a class as long as Kenan, but Supersport needs riders like him because young riders can be measured against him.”
“There’s a lot of fast guys in that class, but if he’s winning races and at the front, you know the level of the class.”
“To move on from Supersport you’ve got to beat Kenan or get close to him because everyone knows how fast he is on that bike, and if you can race against him everyone knows that you’re riding at a good level.”
Michael van der Mark: “Kenan was so aggressive on track! It’s incredible how much talent he had on a Supersport bike.”
“Sometimes he was over the limit, but it was because he always wanted to win. Every rider that raced against Kenan learned from him, and I think that every young rider should watch his races.”
“His mental strength was so strong, and he’s gone through so much. When he lost his son, he was leading the race and that’s not normal. That showed how special a person he is,m because I don’t think anyone else would have raced, and he was even able to fight for the win. That’s amazing.”
“In 2014, I won the championship, and he had a bad bike that year, but he still was able to fight for the win and have some great battles. He was the standard of the Supersport class and that would have stayed the same if he was fit for another couple of years.”
“You had to beat him and even though he didn’t have the bike in 2014, he was still fighting for race wins. If you could beat Kenan you deserved the chance on the next step because he was so fast and always pushing to the limit.”
“He forced everyone else to do the same. You didn’t build up to a weekend you were at the limit all the time! It doesn’t always work for you, but you had to do it because if you weren’t at that limit, he’d make you look silly!”
“I remember when he won in Turkey, I was on the podium and I’m glad I didn’t have to fight with him that day because his fans were scary! I’ll never forget standing on that podium, but at Phillip Island in 2014 it was funny because we were so much faster than everyone else and we both crashed out.”
“It was at the same corner on different laps for us, and even though neither of us finished, I’ll remember that weekend for a long time.”
PJ Jacobsen: “In 2015 I had a great year battling with Kenan. He’s the hardest racer I ever raced against because you’d set a great lap time and BANG he goes out and beats it. He never gave up and his five titles are incredible.”
“He’s an amazing Supersport rider and he’ll be remembered for a long time. He’s a great guy as well. He might be aggressive on track, but he always gives you advice as well. When you’re second to him he’ll tell you a things to try and help.”
“We’d be at the paddock show stage and he’d say ‘I was watching you and you were struggling in this section of the lap. Maybe you could try and do this to help.’”
“He’d be giving you advice to make you better because he loved a last lap fight, and he wanted to have riders with him on that last lap. He didn’t want to be five seconds in front he wanted five riders to be with him on the last lap! That’s his idea of proper racing.”
“I remember Magny-Cours in 2015 because I had to win the race or else the championship was over. It was a mixture of wet and dry conditions, and I was battling with Kenan. He was in second and didn’t need to win the race, but all he wanted to do was win!”
“I managed to beat him in the race and he won the championship with second. It was a great race and we touched a few times, but he’s so smart in a race. He knew what he had to do at all times on the track and watching him you’d learn a lot about racing.”
“My first fight with him was at Misano and it was my first podium. I was third and he was fourth, and with eight or nine laps to go I was behind Mickey [van der Mark], and I looked at my pitboard and it said +1s to Kenan. For the rest of the race it was +1s and he was so consistent.”
“I was riding as hard as I could and I couldn’t break away from him, and that’s what puts pressure on a rider. When you’re giving it everything and not pulling away it can be tough, but finally it was the last lap and I got the podium. He never gave up and that’s what I respect about him.”
Fabian Foret: “I was a teammate of Kenan’s in Supersport and he was a great teammate. He always wanted everyone to get better so they could fight on track.”
“I went to his place in Turkey to learn from him, and I have so much respect for him. He was one of my biggest competitors at the time, but always a great guy and a great fighter on track.”
“We had some great battles on track and even though I had more experience in the class we had some great battles. From 2008 until I retired we had so many fights on track.”
Photo: WorldSBK
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