Welcome to the beta version of the new Women & Golf website. Our web monkeys are still hard at work and welcome your feedback.  

Advertisement

Phillip Island WSBK: ‘I was a sitting duck' says Laverty

Eugene Laverty’s struggles with the Milwaukee Aprilia continued in today’s WorldSBK Superpole and race one when the Monegasque suffered a crash and found that fast changes of direction in the race were leaving him open to attack.

Laverty stuck in a banker lap during Superpole one but then crashed and didn’t make into the next session, givng him a starting place of 13th. The Irishman made his way through to eighth but wasn’t able to make any further progress.

“The crash came at the wrong time. The bike was feeling good that lap, I got in a banker then pushed and it was off after two corners. That made it hard for the race, starting in 13th but I made up a few positions early but the thing wasn’t feeling good with a full tank of fuel which made it worse. It wasn’t an easy race at all,” said Laverty, speaking at the track.

Advertisement

“There are a couple of things going on. The electronics are working better but we still have some issues. The thing is difficult to turn and change direction, it’s not working like the other bikes, I am a sitting duck in some places, the others are able to just ride around me, so that’s where we are losing our lap times.

“In sectors two and four, the fast changes of direction, I am losing everything through there. Lorenzo is better because he is big and can throw his weight around. Even he passed me between turns one and two. It’s making it tough. The last time I rode a Superbike around here, the Suzuki, that’s where I passed Sylvain and Melandri and they were on Aprilias.”

Laverty last rode an RSV-4 in the 2012 season and says the bike has changed a lot in the intervening period. “The weight distribution has changed the bike a lot so we need to recalibrate that to try and get the bike to feel like it did back then as it doesn’t feel like the same bike. I thought we had a shot at a top six so eighth is disappointing,” concluded Laverty, who starts race two on the front row.

Click here for times and results

Articles you may like

Advertisement

More WorldSBK

Advertisement
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram