Tyco BMW boss Philip Neill has admitted he is very disappointed that neither Michael Laverty nor Christian Iddon managed to make it into this year’s MCE British Superbike Showdown after the team in its different guises has always bagged at least one slot in the season-ending top six.

Laverty had been holding fourth place going into the weekend’s triple header but a crash in yesterday’s opening race made it very difficult for the Irishman, who is no lover of Oulton Park, and he just didn’t quite have the pace to bag the required points in race two. He will now fight with Peter Hickman for the Riders’ Cup trophy…

“There is no way of hiding our disappointment at not reaching the Showdown stage of this year’s British Superbike Championship, after having made the top six at this stage during each of the six years the system has been in operation. We were also the only team with two riders in the top six last year. As we have said many times before, we enjoy success together as a team and we share the disappointments as a team,” said Neill.

“It is clear our team tried everything possible to support our riders and I know both riders tried their best at Oulton to achieve the results required, however, it is unfortunate that crashes for both riders ended our chances. We know the BMW S1000RR is more than capable of running at the front and we appreciate the continued support of both Tyco Security Products and BMW Motorrad. Our goal now is very clear: to win some races before the end of the season.”