Kenan Sofuoglu has won his fifth World Supersport Championship after taking the win at Jerez as title rival Randy Krummenacher crashed out from the lead.

Youngster Niki Tuuli continued to impress as he crossed the line second, as Britain’s Kyle Smith finished third.

Polesitter Sofuoglu took the lead at the start, while Tuuli got a quick getaway from the second row and moved up to third behind Sofuoglu’s Kawasaki Puccetti Racing team-mate Krummenacher.

As the trio edged off at the front, it soon became obvious that Krummenacher was getting desperate to pass his team-mate and make a stab for the win as well as keep his championship hopes alive.

On the third lap he was seen gesticulating at Sofuoglu, clearly under the belief he was holding him up. A lap later Krummenacher and Tuuli moved past the series leader as he appeared to allow them past, and the Swiss rider set off to try and grab a win.

But his dreams of victory and a chance at the title ended abruptly when he lost the front end and crashed out from the lead, handing the championship to Sofuoglu there and then.

With Krummenacher gone, the pressure was off and Sofuoglu settled in behind Tuuli. Krummenacher managed to re-join but it wasn’t to last, and he retired a few laps later.

Sofuoglu passed the youngster for the lead on the ninth lap but Tuuli came back at him two laps later, while Kyle Smith in third began to catch them both, in turn forcing Sofuoglu back towards Tuuli at the front.

An aggressive move at Turn 13 put the Kawasaki man back in front, and Smith, who had come with him, also had a go and made a move. However, he was less successful and he had to fight just to stay on his CIA Landlords Insurance Honda, as Tuuli snatched back the place.

The drama gave American PJ Jacobsen, who had been running in fourth position for most of the race, the chance to close in a bit, however the Honda man was never quite able to get close enough to Smith to make a move.

In the closing laps the main action came in the form of a four-way scrap for sixth between MV Agusta Reparto Corse’s Jules Cluzel, San Carlo Team Italia’s Axel Bassani, Illia Mykhalchyk and Ayrton Badovini, as the foursome swapped places several times.

This soon became a fight for fifth as Federico Caricasulo, who had ridden a lonely race in fifth for most of the race, retired.

Meanwhile, Sofuoglu was out in front and heading for the win, with it taking the championship for the fifth time. Tuuli was second and Smith third, as Jacobsen crossed the line fourth.

Bassani emerged the best of the rest as he finished fifth ahead of Cluzel, as the DS Junior Team Kawasaki of Mykhalchyk took seventh ahead of the Team Lorini Honda of Badovini.

Smith’s team-mate Christoffer Bergman was ninth as Lorenzo Zanetti on the GRT Racing Team MV took tenth.

The only other Brit home was Luke Stapleford, who managed a points finish as he crossed the line 14th on his Profile Racing Triumph.