Kenan Sofuoglu announced on his Facebook that Imola will host his last race. The Turkish rider suffered some serious injuries after crashing last year at Magny Cours and this year at Phillip Island and finally he decided to stop also by the will of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, a good friend of his. Here’s what he wrote to explain his decision:
“As the President wishes, I am going to retire from racing this weekend. I will celebrate my 20 years of racing anniversary this weekend! Last couple of months I had a few injures which made my family and our President very afraid. We decide to retire from racing earlier than I expected. I can’t say I am sad because I have already a few Turkish riders which I trained to race and carry our flag. Twenty years ago I started my racing career with the goal to race in the world championships. We won five times the world title and I am very thankful for that. Many people supported me while winning these titles I want to thank everyone for that. For the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Team and for my fans I will be one last time on the track on 12-13th May in Italy.“
Born in 1984 in Adapazari, Kenan Sofuoglu will leave racing with 34 years of age and after taking part in 166 races overall in Superstock 1000, Supersport and Superbike. He was five times World Supersport Champion Supersport (2007, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016) and so far he’s achieved 96 podium finishes and 45 wins, scored in Superstock 1000 (where he raced in 2004 and 2005) and Supersport.