It was a run to the line to decide multiple positions in the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with 2020 Champion Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki) claiming his second victory of the 2021 campaign by just one tenth of a second ahead of Bahattin Sofuoglu (Biblion Yamaha Motoxracing) during the Hyundai N Catalunya Round, while Championship contender Tom Booth-Amos (Fusport – RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki) scored no points after a Turn 1 crash.
Buis made his move on the final lap of the 12-lap encounter to claim his sixth career victory in WorldSSP300, closing the gap to Booth-Amos and teammate Adrian Huertas in the Championship standings. Buis finished ahead of Sofuoglu by just 0.116s as the Turkish star claimed his first podium since WorldSSP300’s visit to Magny-Cours in 2020.
The battle for third was between brothers Ton and Meikon Kawakami (AD78 Team Brasil by MS Racing) with just 0.004s separating the pair as they crossed the line, with Ton claiming his first WorldSSP300 podium and levelling things up between the two brothers, with the pair two tenths behind Sofuoglu; Meikon claiming fourth place.
P1 Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki)
“It was a great race. From the beginning, I had the pace, so my plan was to stay in front, and it worked out very well in the last two laps. I made a little gap and on the last lap that gap was enough so I took the victory. Very happy with this first place.”
P2 Bahattin Sofuoglu (Biblion Yamaha Motoxracing)
“I didn’t expect the race to be at this difficult level because I was expecting to stay at the front. I made a mistake on the straight at the beginning of the race, and then I learnt from it and I improved this. I made a plan for the last two laps and the plan was difficult, but I made a mistake on the last lap. I just tried to catch first position and stay in second. If I did not do a mistake, I wanted to overtake first position. For now I am very happy because finally we can get results and tomorrow I will try again to get a good result like today.”
P3 Ton Kawakami (AD78 Team Brasil by MS Racing)
“For sure, I’m very happy because we worked a lot this year. In the middle of the season, I don’t know what happened. It was difficult but in every moment we worked a lot, physically and mentally. Thanks to all the people of Brazil who support me.”
WorldSSP300 Results Race 1
1. Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki)
2. Bahattin Sofuoglu (Biblion Yamaha Motoxracing) +0.116s
3. Ton Kawakami (AD78 Team Brasil by MS Racing) +0.462s
4. Meikon Kawakami (AD78 Team Brasil by MS Racing) +0.466s
5. Alvaro Diaz Cebrian (Arco-Motor University Team) +0.557s
6. Inigo Iglesias (SMW Racing) +0.718s.
Championship Standings (after Race 1, Round 9)
1. Adrian Huertas (ESP) Yamaha (188 points)
2. Tom Booth-Amos (GBR) Kawasaki (158 points)
3. Jeffrey Buis (NED) Kawasaki (127 points)
Credits : Photos and content courtesy of Dorna WSBK Organization Srl
