Sofuoglu holds off Tuuli in Germany
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Kenan Sofuoglu has produced a masterclass of race management against wildcard Niki Tuuli to take his fifth victory of the season and strengthen his grip on the World Supersport title.
Having blasted from pole position the Turkish rider held the holeshot with Tuuli keeping in toe into before the Finnish rookie in just his second World Supersport race stormed into the lead with a smart undercut move at the end of lap one.
After following the youngster for a couple of laps Sofuoglu returned to the lead with a like-for-like pass up the inside but couldn't breakaway from Tuuli.
The Finnish rider maintained the pressure on Sofuoglu throughout the middle third of the race, while setting a new lap record in the process, but over the final two laps the championship leader used his experience to keep hold of his tyre life and stretch ahead to victory.
Tuuli claimed a respectable second place on the Kallio Racing Yamaha with Jules Cluzel rounding out the podium trio on the MV Agusta.
PJ Jacobsen on the Ten Kate Honda grabbed fourth having won an intense battle with Federico Caricasulo and Randy Krummenacher who has slipped to 53 points behind Sofuoglu in the championship standings.
Lorenzo Zanetti secured seventh place ahead of Christoffer Bergman as Kyle Smith and Hikari Okubo completed the top ten finishers.
Luke Stapleford grabbed 11th on the Profile Racing Triumph as Alex Baldolini, Ayrton Badovini, Illya Mikhalchik and Axel Bassani took the final points place, with Gino Rea pulling out early with a technical problem.
