Turkish Delight
CON
TURKISH DELIGHT
RACE WATCH
Can anyone stop Kenan Sofuoglu?
MICHAEL GUY
MIDWAY THROUGH THE 2006 WORLD SUPERSPORT SEASON, Kenan Sofuoglu was told by the Turkish government that
____ V I~~ALII1L LJ'.JA 4~J~i YV he would have to return to his homeland at the end of the year to complete 15 months of mandatory military service. He figured that his dream of winning a world championship was over.
sornoglu's short racing career has been fraught with cultural ob stacles and political hurdles. Every three months, for example, he had to stand in long lines to obtain a work visa to compete in Eu rope. Sometimes the process took two weeks. "Two days before my first test with Ten Kate Honda, I had to ring them up and say I couldn't come," he said. "They didn't believe me. I said, `Maybe it's not the best decision to go with a Turkish rider. Maybe you should go with someone different."
Although the Turkish government can offer special dispensation to top athletes and celebrities, Sofuoglu didn’t fall into either one of those categories-until he started winning races. “When I started to make results,” he said, “the government made me an ‘official sportsman,’ and I was able to get around this problem.”
This past season, racing once again for the powerhouse Dutch squad, the 23-yearold won a record eight of 13 WSS races, scoring more than twice as many points as his next-closest competitor en route to becoming Turkey’s first motorsports world champion.
Despite Sofuoglu’s success on the world stage and Turkey’s population of 60 million, interest in him has been minimal. You’d think he’d be backed to the hilt by companies wanting to get their names exposed internationally through sponsorship, but it’s the complete opposite.
“It’s been hard,” Sofuoglu said. “I had no example to follow. When I arrived, I had to be good because I didn’t have a big sponsor. In every championship I have raced, I have always been top-three, but even with this I could not get $100 from a sponsor in Turkey. “People are speaking about me in Turkey because I am winning races,” he continued. “They would not be even looking at me if I were second; in Turkey, second place is losing. They don’t understand that I am racing against 40 worldclass riders, and if I am second or third it is still a good result.”
Ninety-four percent of Turkey’s population is Muslim. Sofuoglu prays at least five times per day, with the first prayer taking place before dawn, even on race mornings. Since leaving Turkey five years ago, he has had to juggle his racing commitments with his faith. Finding a balance is not easy.
“My family is Muslim, and we pray a lot,” he said. “I am the only Muslim in the paddock, so I must set a good example. Around the world, other people think that Muslims are strange people and difficult to understand. It is important for me to show everyone in the paddock that as a Muslim, I am a good person, a good racer, a good sportsman and a good friend.
“I believe that prayer helps my racing,” he added. “Before every race, I pray to Allah, open my hand and say, ‘If you want, you can give me a result. If you don’t, then you won’t. I am happy if you give me a good or a bad result because I have to thank you for getting me to this level in the first place.’ I have come a long way to get here. Whenever one door shuts, another one opens. I cannot believe this is luck; it is because of my faith. This is what I believe.” >
Sofuoglu was introduced to racing by his older brother, Bahattin, a three-time Turkish Supersport Class A champion. In 2000, Kenan pushed his motorcycledealer father to get involved in the Turkish championship, and it paid off with a Supersport Class B title. The following year, Bahattin earned support from Honda Turkey, and he offered Kenan one of his racebikes. “He was four years older and he had seven years racing experience, but at the second race I beat him,” he said. “Nobody in Turkey could believe it.”
In 2002, Honda Turkey withdrew its support of domestic racing, leaving the Sofuoglu family in a quandary. With three brothers now racing, the plan was to send the two youngest-Kenan and Sinan-to Europe.
“Bahattin sat us down and we spoke about sending one of us to Europe because we did not have the money for two,” Sofuoglu explained. “Sinan was going to be 20 the next year so he had to go into the military. I went off to race.”
Bahattin sold all his possessions to pay for Kenan’s passage to Germany and participation in the R6 Cup.
“Bahattin said, ‘Go, learn, and if you can’t make good results come back and teach other Turkish riders what you have learned,”’ remembered Kenan. “In the opening session of my first R6 Cup race, I was 7 seconds off the pace and down in 30th place. It was a different world, and I was ready to stop. In the second session, I went to seventh, and then in the race I was leading and got on the podium. The only reason I didn’t win was because I had the same tires that I’d used in practice and they were finished. Everyone else put on new tires for the race. After three rounds, I was fastest in every session and won the last six races.”
Bahattin attended the final round of the series, where Kenan was crowned champion.
Then tragedy struck. Back home in Turkey, Bahattin stepped off a curb and was hit by a speeding car. “He died right in front of me,” Sofuoglu said. “It was unbelievable. He had done everything to get me to Europe, and everything was working. Two days later, he was dead.”
Following his brother’s untimely death, Sofuoglu told his family that he didn’t want to return to Europe. They argued that his brother had made it possible for Kenan to race and that he must return and do his best. “It was hard for them to lose one son and send another to Europe to race,” he said. “But they knew I could do it because I would not waste my mind on partying and girls.”
Sofuoglu’s winning performance in the R6 Cup got the attention of several top teams. He credits his success to the Yamaha Germany effort that supported him for two years in European Superstock and later, in WSS, Ten Kate.
“They took my hand and got me to where I am now,” he said. “Before, I was riding on talent alone. I had many crashes, but all I knew was to brake late and get on the gas hard. I knew what the brake, gas and clutch did, but nothing more.
“In 2006,1 started to really learn about riding the bike,” he continued. “Ten Kate helped me develop as a rider. When I joined the team, they could see that I got there only with my talent; I didn’t know anything about bike setup. My mechanics
said if they worked with me they could bring me to a high level.”
Sofuoglu described the start of the ’06 season as “very good.” Then he hit a mental brick wall. “The information I was getting from the team was too much for me,” he said. “I was forced to learn so much in such a short time, and I couldn’t handle it. I remember driving in my camper to Brno thinking how I wasn’t good enough to do it. It wasn’t just on track; away from racing, my life was difficult and I felt there was no way I could continue. I figured I would just finish the season and then stop.”
The experienced Ten Kate squad saw that Sofuoglu was in trouble. Instead of piling on the pressure, they stood by their rider and gave him the breathing room he needed. Sofuoglu got third in the Czech Republic and in England, and he won the next two rounds in Holland and Germany.
“My career really started after the win at Assen,” he said. “The team saw I was ready and started to work with me again. They knew I had talent but they were unsure if I could handle difficult situations. They said, ‘If you can pass this test, we want to continue working with you for a long time.’
“Ten Kate really understands its riders,” he continued. “Maybe another team would have kept pushing, and I would have lost everything. With the information from the data, I started to become really strong. By taking two second-place finishes in the final two rounds, I was able to help my teammate Sebastian Charpentier win the title. From there, the team saw what they wanted from me and gave me a contract for ’07.”
Given Sofuoglu’s commanding success in WSS, pundits are already asking if he has a future in MotoGP. “People speak about 600s and MotoGP machines as if they are similar,” he said. “There was some talk last season that if I could win four more races, I would have a chance in MotoGP-maybe not with the best team but I could ride there. But this is not my ambition; it is too early, and I don’t think I could handle it.
“I can’t accept finishing fifth or sixth,” he added. “I work very hard, so I am not satisfied if I leave a racetrack without making the podium. If I can’t arrive in Superbike at the same level as I am now in Supersport, I will stop racing.”
Sofuoglu will have his chance this year. He has a three-year deal with Ten Kate. The plan: two years in WSB-a learning year and a winning year-then on to MotoGP with the Dutch squad in 2010.
“If I can make a surprise in WSB and maybe get a podium and finish top-five overall, then in my second year I believe I can be one of the best riders,” Sofuoglu said. “By then, I will be 25 years old, which is still young, so I can get one of the best rides in MotoGP. This is my ambition. I don’t know if it will work, but I will try.”
Sofuoglu hopes to use his success to promote both himself and the series. “My aim is to establish myself in Europe and then hopefully I can do the same within Turkey,” he said. “The first step to teaching Turkish people about racing was to become world champion; they don’t care if it’s Supersport, Superbike or MotoGP. Now that I am world champion, TV and newspapers will speak about me and people would start to follow racing.”
Within an hour of clinching the title, Sofuoglu received a congratulatory telephone call from Turkish president Abdullah Gúl. When he returned to Turkey, he was swamped at the airport by elated fans. They carried him away on their shoulders amidst huge flags that read, “Turkey is proud of you.” Following interviews with the national media, he was whisked off to meet Gül in person.
“The reception I got from the Turkish fans was unbelievable, and meeting the president was a great honor,” he said. “I am finally reaping the benefits of my years of sacrifice.”
Now the real challenge starts. While WSS is a highly competitive, hard-fought class, World Superbike is another level. Racing against Troy Bayliss, Max Biaggi, Noriyuki Haga and Troy Corser, among others, will be Sofuoglu’s biggest test yet.
“I know WSB is hard, and you can see that from the results there are many riders fighting for the win-even on the last lap,” he said. “It will be difficult to learn the bike, but I know all the tracks. Once I get comfortable, I see no reason why
we cannot be competitive in the second half of the year and fighting for the podium. I believe I am ready.” Ö
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