Kawasaki Mahi Racing Team India rider Kenan Sofuoglu had a day of contrasts at a damp and changeable Magny Cours circuit, taking pole position but suffering a late fall in final qualifying.

Some simple bad luck for Fabien Foret (Kawasaki Mahi Racing Team India) stopped him from improving his final qualifying position as he aimed for a front row start at this home circuit. He will begin Sunday’s 22-lap WSS race from 18th place on the grid.

At the front of the 33 hopeful riders in qualifying, Sofuoglu finished the day battered from his fast fall but happy to be on pole for the fourth time in 2013, and over half a second faster than his closest competitor and championship leader, Sam Lowes.

No result but a win will do for Sofuoglu on Sunday and he is starting the race from the best possible position on his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R.

Foret is now looking at making a good start and passing as many riders as possible in the early laps before the front runners make a break, so he can score well at his home event.

Sheridan Morais was a fine fifth on his GO Eleven Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R. Riccardo Russo (Puccetti Kawasaki) was one place behind Morais with Kevin Coghlan (Kawasaki DMC-Lorenzini) finishing off the top ten in combined qualifying.

Luca Scassa (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) struggled with set-up and was only 19t,h two places up on late call up for the Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres team, Matthieu Lagrive. Florian Marino (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) hurt his wrist in a practice fall and could take no further part in the weekend after riding on Friday.

In the Superstock 600 European Championship race three Kawasaki riders dominated the race on Saturday at Magny Cours. Ninja ZX-6R rider Alessandro Nocco (San Carlo Team Italia) won the race and kept his championship hopes alive, with his team-mate Franco Morbidelli second and Christian Gamarino (Go Eleven Kawasaki) third. In the points Morbidelli has 134, Gamarino 124 and Nocco 120, setting up an intense finale at the Jerez round in two week's time.

Kenan Sofuoglu:

“Just when I wanted to push there were about ten riders racing around the track. I was thinking that when I found a free lap and I would have to make a perfect lap. In the third corner I tried to open the throttle a lot, finally I understood that I opened the throttle too much, and I had to lift the bike. The grass I hit was really wet but I still did not expect to lose the front so easily. I am OK in terms of injuries after the crash but I am hurting almost everywhere, because it was a very big one. Tomorrow our pace should be strong because our bike is on a very good level, and hopefully we will have good track conditions and we can win the race.”

Fabien Foret:

“It seems like Magny Cours is not a very lucky track for me, but the race is tomorrow, not today. I am a bit upset because it is my home round and between the changing conditions and a small technical problem it was not our day. I lost some track time and I was unable to improve in the final qualifying. I wanted a few laps more because I needed some track time on the 600 again. Starting from 18th I cannot expect anything too much but a hard race, but for sure I should finish a lot better than I start on the grid. I will never give up and try my best and we will see what happens on raceday.”

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