GIVI Magazine - Maggio 2017

KEN THE WARRIOR A FIGHTER IN LIFE AND ON TRACK! With the success came fame, with fame money and recognition: Kenan’s own home looks as good as any king’s palace and is no secret that he is personal friend of the Turkish president, who recently paid him a visit. Yes, you got that right, president Erdogan paid a visit to Kenan, not the other way around, it’s all on Youtu- be if you don’t believe me. This friendship also led to one of the big- gest motorsports stunts in recent times. Sofuoglu had the chance to break the World Speed record (400 km/h in 26 se- conds) on a stock motorcycle: the mighty and exotic Kawasaki HR2. No big deal for a top tier racer on a top tier machine… right, except that Kenan was allowed to do that on the Osman Gazi Bridge, 50 km from Istanbul. It is the fourth-longest suspen- sion bridge in the world, and Sofuoglu’s World record breaking performance was part of the inauguration ceremony, right before the bridge was officially open to traffic. So, looking at Kenan and all he achieved in life you’d think he is a very lucky man. He had the talent, he had a family who fully supported his passion and he could put his speed to good use to become one of the true heroes of our sport. Not so fast. Kenan had to endure hardship and face so many tragedies in his life that it’s even hard to write about it, so I won’t do it. I just feel like saying that many people hardly experience even just one of the hard knocks life delivered to Kenan, and we cannot really understand the true impact that those events can really have. But Kenan picked himself up each time, he fought back and kept racing and winning. For that he is a warrior and for that we should all admire him even more. Oh, and let me tell you that all along he kept smiling, he kept being nice to everybody and he kept making himself available to the fans and the media, still feeling blessed for what he was able to achieve. INTERVIEWWITH KENAN AT TT CIRCUIT OF ASSEN GIVI supports Kenan and his Team, the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing squad, and we had the opportunity to sit down with him right after another record brea- king performance at the end of April, when he set the fastest lap during the WSSP Superpole at the Cathedral of Speed, the Dutch TT Circuit of Assen. We didn’t know it yet, but the following day Sofuoglu would go on and win his first race of the season after being sidelined by a thumb injury during the first two rounds and crashing in Spain, in his first race after another surgery. GM : Kenan, first of all we want to thank you for sitting with us today, you are a living legend and it is a real honor for GIVI to sponsor you. KS: Oh, no. Thank you for your support, I really appreciate that. As a matter of fact I go way back with GIVI. I grew up being a mechanic in the motorcycle shop owned by my family in Turkey and I remember my dad would drive his van to Istanbul to buy GIVI cases and then display them in our shop. And I remember mounting them on the motorcycles of our clients. So every time I see the GIVI logo on my racing suit it brings back those memories! GM: What an amazing coincidence, a full circle! Such a small world. So that is where your connection with motorcycles comes from. But Turkey has never been known for being a big motorsports market so how was it possible for you to become a racer and develop your talent? KS: I started in year 2000, racing with my two brothers. In 2001 I remember there were only 4 riders in the Turkish championship: the Sofuoglu brothers and one other rider. I was the youngest of the group and there were no youth categories: no 125 or 250 or minibikes, everybody was on the same motorcycle and that was a 600cc. In those conditions there was not really much to do or learn for me so, being the younger brother, my family decided to send me over to Europe and maybe start a career. I ended up racing the Yamaha Cup in Germany and I won it at the first attempt. That’s how my story begins. It sounds like it was easy but It was not, I had a real hard time in my early life and it wasn’t easy to start my career. GM: So basically you show up and find yourself being fast, so fast that you can win a championship right away. Did you expect that? How could you tell, back then if you were even fast enough to qualify? KS: I didn’t know it, I could not know it. When we first arrived in Germany in 2002 everythingwas new to us: new tracks, newmotorcycle, the racing scene was so big and intimidating compared to Turkey. I remember I would be 35th out of 40 riders in the first practice session but then, as I was learning the track, I’d get faster and faster and eventually qualify in front. I became quite the sensation, a kid coming from Turkey without even knowing the tracks but being able to get a podium every week. At the end of the year I won the championship and I was also nominated the best talent who ever entered the class in the 25 years of the Yamaha 600 Cup. I was also the first rider to be able to win the title at the first attempt, nobody ever did that before me. So they nominated me the top emerging talent in Germany and that opened the door to race the German SuperSport 600 class. I did very well there, too so Yamaha in 2004 and 2005 gave me the opportunity to race the SuperStock 1000. The Ten Kate Honda Team noticed me and offered me to race in the World SuperSport class for them in 2006. I did not so bad, finishing 3rd in my first year, but it was winning the World Championship in 2007 that changed everything. My victory really ignited the passion for motorcycles and mo- torsports in general back home in Turkey. A lot of young kids got into mo- torcycle racing, Turkey now had aWorld Champion and everybody wanted to be a champion, too. I was the only Turkish racer back in the day, now we have at least 10 very talented riders from Turkey racing at the World level. I race in the World SuperSport 600 category, Toprak [Razgatlioglu – also winner at Assen the following day] races in Stock 1000, Harun [Çabuk] who is also my student, races in the World SuperSport 300. Then I have students at any level, from the Red Bull Cup to the local championships. Maybe in a couple of years we will also see Turkish riders inMotoGP or SuperBike. I’m really proud for being the person who started motorsports in Turkey. GM: Do you see yourself in the future with your own team, helping young talents to develop at the highest level, maybe being their manager? KS: At the moment, I help all these young riders as an older brother, not really as a manager. The Turkish government also offered me to help develop the sport at home but I don’t know, right now I really love racing, I enjoy it very much and that is all I want to do. ENGLISH TEXT ABSTRACT KENAN SOFUOGLU IS A TRUE LIVING LEGEND. HE IS THE MOST DECORATED RIDER IN THE WORLD SUPERSPORT PADDOCK, WITH 5 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TITLES UNDER HIS BELT, ALL IN THE WSS CATEGORY. HE HAS A COMBINED 2.4 MILLION FOLLOWERS ON SOCIAL MEDIA (AT THE RACES HE FOLLOWS THE FEED THROUGH A MONITOR IN THE TEAM GARAGE) AND HE IS THE MOST RECOGNIZED SPORTSMAN IN HIS COUNTRY, TURKEY. Givi Magazine May 2017 - Givi Interview  9