Home hope Sofuoglu flies the flag with pole

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Local hero Kenan Sofuoglu will start the first World Supersport Championship race to be held in his native Turkey from pole position after a dominant performance in second qualifying.

Coming into the session in arrears of title rival Sam Lowes, Sofuoglu quickly stamped his mark on proceedings by overhauling the Yakhnich Yamaha rider early on before gradually reducing his lap times.

Ending the day with a 1min 58.380secs lap, Sofuoglu was a clear four tenths faster than Lowes to secure his third pole position of the season and give him a fighting chance of keeping his title challenge alive.

Indeed, Lowes needs to finish within four points of Sofuoglu come race day to secure his first World Supersport title with two rounds remaining, which means a win for the Turk will keep the title race going until at least Magny-Cours next month.

Joining the feuding pair on the front row will be Christian Iddon, the ParkinGO MV Agusta rapidly adjusting to the new Turkish venue to haul the F3 up to third position for the second time this season having achieved an identical feat at Silverstone.

Row two comprises of Kawasaki riders with Florian Marino, Kev Coghlan and David Salom starting alongside one another, ahead of a quartet of Hondas, with PATA's Michael van der Mark and Lorenzo Zanetti getting the better of Raffaele de Rosa and Roberto Tamburini on their Lorini machines.

A red flag inducing crash in the closing stages would see Fabien Foret slip back to 11th position, ahead of Vladimir Leonov, the pair out of position to help their respective team-mates in the title battle, while Jack Kennedy starts in 13th.