Eugene Laverty has not scored many WorldSBK pole positions in his career, only three including a record breaking 1’40.705 at Portimao this weekend that saw him in the ideal spot to take on race one with.

How his bike could handle the heat for all 20-laps was a mystery on Saturday morning, and it remained a mystery even after a few seconds of race one, as the 13-times WorldSBK race winner was unceremoniously dumped out of contention.

Xavi Fores’ Ducati rear end lost rear traction entering the third corner of lap one, it stepped out and then he pulled off a desperate stoppie as he tried to avoid Laverty, but to no avail. Both riders went down, luckily without serious injury.

A cut elbow for Fores, and some bashes for Laverty and it was just heartbreak, not fractures, to deal with. It had all started so well for Laverty and Milwaukee Aprilia on Saturday morning in Superpole 2.

“Incredible to do 1’40 round here I did not believe it was possible,” said Laverty of his Superpole 2 success. “When I did a lap here years ago with a super-qualifying tyre, I did a 1’41.3. So now to go that much faster, into a 1’40, is really unbelievable. I did it on my own as well. Just focused on the track and getting all of the potential out of the bike. We are really understanding this bike now and I feel in the last three rounds we can see how strong we have been. I am excited for the last part of the year now.”

Laverty could not keep pole on track into turn one after the rocket starts put in by the eventual winner and second place riders.

“I felt I had made a good start but Marco and Johnny’s starts were incredible,” said Laverty. “They made unbelievable starts. They made me look silly into the first corner. I did not mind that those two got ahead but we kind of bunched up in turn one and it kind of pushed me wide and Lorenzo got through. In the end that proved costly – because I became the guy that Fores took out… I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is really heartbreaking for the guys to have had a pole position then a race that did not last 15 seconds. I did not even get my heart rate up. It was also devastating too because to start race one with such great potential, but now in race two I have to start from tenth.”

Laverty was unsure exactly why there had been an impact, and a big impact at that, but he felt lucky to get away with it.

“I have not spoken to Fores but I did hear that he got a false neutral, maybe,” said Laverty. “It was a big mistake on his part and unfortunately I was just in his firing line. I was just lucky that I was not hurt in any way. The impact looked big on TV but the bike took most of the impact, so I got off pretty Scott free.”

Race two will be tough starting from the fourth row, but Laverty feels he can have at least some help in his job of passing some theoretically slower riders.

“I am not going to count out a podium but the first three laps are going to be key,” he said. “I am going to try and slice through them. I do not want to say too much and I know on this bike it can be hard to overtake with; I have said that before. I am trying to put that to the back of my mind and try to work my way through the traffic. If I can get a good start, and try to go with the podium guys in front of me, then anything can happen.”