Australian WSS: Cluzel and Sofuoglu slug it out

The new WSS season got underway with two old hands out front and on top, provisional pole man Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) and Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), with Sofuoglu in second by 0.021 of a second.

Third was the battling Gino Rea (CIA Landlords Insurance Honda) riding with a broken right foot and fighting against recent surgery to remove a steel screw from his injury.

Fourth was another British rider, Kyle Smith from the Pata Honda team, while Frenchman Lucas Mahias scored fifth on his Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres Ninja.

Three-cylinder MV Agusta power took new MV Agusta rider Lorenzo Zanetti to sixth place, with another MV rider, Alex Baldolini, secured seventh place, just over a second from Cluzel.

Gino Rea had the operation he had planned after testing recently, and gave a progress report. “I got the screw out but I had two choices,” he stated. “Get the screw out and race this weekend or get a bone graft and get it all re-plated, as I still need a bone graft. The two bones are still broken and the biggest one is pulled apart. The only issue with getting the screw out and racing again this weekend is risking the bone. It is not going to heal, but it is risking it making it worse. It was either that or having a bone graft and I wanted to race. I do not want to sit it out for six weeks, I would rather let the bone heal and just keep on racing. It is only going to get better from now until Thailand, so at the moment it is causing me pain on the bike but it is fresh, still fresh. I now have Tom Sykes’ boot on, so not quite as big as the one I had to wear in the tests! Tom is a 42 and I am normally a 40. It makes it a bit harder in the corners. Top Honda today so I was quite happy with my last run. I am starting to enjoy riding again and I do not get on with this track, so if we can do alright here it is looking good for us.”

American PJ Jacobsen was tenth on his Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres bike, but having some issues with his machine set-up and is still throwing off the effects of some kind of ‘flu. “We are having a pretty difficult time and we have had problems since the test,” said Jacobsen. “We hopefully will get it all sorted. We have not had many laps (20 today). The doctor is helping get me healthy and I feel pretty good now. It is not such a problem; we just need some more laps because we have not been testing all winter. I have just been ice-riding in the winter back home so it is good to get back on the race bike.”