Press release:
Hannspree Ten Kate Honda’s Kenan Sofuoglu set the third fastest time in this afternoon’s opening free practice session for Sunday’s tenth round World Supersport race at Brno in the Czech Republic.
The Turkish rider was the fastest Honda rider today as Britain’s Cal Crutchlow set the fastest time around the undulating 5.4km circuit. Sofuoglu’s team-mate, Andrew Pitt, crashed early in the scheduled 45-minute session, sustaining a deep cut in his arm which affected the rest of his session, the Australian using his spare Honda CBR600RR to set the 17th fastest time.
Kenan Sofuoglu – P3, 2’03.997s:
"It’s much smoother here than at Imola last week, so that makes its own issues! But Brno is one of my favourite tracks so I was enjoying myself out there. We had a problem with the rear tyre near the end – it was causing quite bad chatter, but there are a lot of other th ings we can improve tomorrow as well. I’m sure we can be faster so we’ll check the data tonight and see where we can make some positive changes."
Andrew Pitt - P17, 2’05.634s
"I was pushing right from the start and ended up in a big highside on the exit from turn one. I probably held on to the bike a bit too long and it’s left me with a big hole on the inside of my elbow – maybe from a footpeg or something. For the rest of the session I just tried to do some laps to get back into it, but the balance of the bike is still not quite there. It’s trying to push wide as I accelerate out of the turns. Hopefully the guys can come up with a solution tonight and we’ll give it another go tomorrow."
Ronald ten Kate – team manager:
"Obviously Andrew’s highside crash disrupted his whole session this afternoon, but hopefully he found a bit of a di rection to follow in his set-up tomorrow. Kenan was making strong progress throughout the session, but came across a problem with the new tyre which we put in the rear towards the end. It caused quite a bit of chatter so we’ll have to look at that. For sure there’ll be more to come tomorrow from both riders."
2009 World Supersport championship, round ten – Brno, Czech RepublicFriday free practice – results:
1. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Yamaha 2’02.334s
2. Fabien Foret (FRA) Yamaha 2’03.777s
3. Kenan Sofuoglu (TUR) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 2’03.997s4. Eugene Laverty (IRL) Honda 2’04.089s
17. Andrew Pitt (AUS) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 2’05.634s
