Motorcyclist Kenan Sofuoğlu beats Solo Türk jet in Teknofest race

A tech festival in Istanbul kicked off on Thursday with an unusual race between a motorcyclist and a fighter jet.

The audience at Teknofest Istanbul watched in awe as renowned motorcyclist Kenan Sofuoğlu won the race with a time of 9.43 seconds.
Mounted on his Kawasaki H2R motorcycle, the Supersport World Champion and Turkish lawmaker raced against Solo Türk's F-16 jet and special jet Challenger 605.

He also sped past sports cars Red Bull Racing Formula 1, Tesla P100DL, Lotus Evora 430 GT and Aston Martin New Vantage, and a Kawasaki H2R.

The Solo Türk and the Turkish Stars, aerobatic teams of the Turkish Air Forces, performed a 30-minute aerial routine at the festival.

Nearly 80,000 people registered for the festival.

Teknofest Istanbul, organized by the Turkey Technology Team Foundation (T3) and the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, aims to promote and showcase Turkey's rapid advance in technology.

In 2007, Sofuoğlu won the Supersport World Championship, a motorcycle racing competition on paved surfaces.

After his 2007 win, he became a Kawasaki rider in 2013, and won his third title the same year. In 2015 and 2016 he won two more titles.

In May, after taking part in the qualification rounds of the 5th World Supersport Championship in Imola, a town in northern Italy, Sofuoğlu announced the end of his active sports career.

He was elected as a parliamentarian of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) from Sakarya province in the June 24 parliamentary elections.