Tyco BMW’s Michael Laverty had a 100 percent podium success rate at Thruxton as he went one better than his race one result, with the victory in the second MCE British Superbike race this afternoon.
With the solid points haul and the maximum 25 points in the final race it puts Laverty back into the top six in the championship and in Showdown contention too. In the early part of the race the Wales based rider was locked in a battle with Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne, but the current series leader experienced a technical problem and had to retire.
But it was a much better event for his Be Wiser Ducati team-mate, Glenn Irwin who bagged his maiden BSB podium with a third place finish. He did have Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran as his next target but the Australian had already done enough to secure second place.
At first it was O’Halloran who got the hole-shot from Byrne, but the race one winner made a move almost immediately to go into the lead at Cobb. Most of the rider’s opted for the zero softer tyre compound, apart from Bridewell and Mossey who decided to go for the harder rear tyre.
A rotation later Laverty soared into the lead as Byrne experienced a technical problem and had a broken gear lever and had to retire to the pits while in third. With the multiple champ out of contention for potentially a double race win it paved the way for Laverty and O’Halloran to fight for the victory.
Elsewhere Haslam had a good start and was up to third on lap five of eighteen and was edging ever closer to the leading duelling duo. But the former World Superbike rider had McConnell on his tail followed by Mossey.
At Goodwood on lap eight Haslam leapt up to second after making a move that stuck on O’Halloran. Meanwhile Linfoot, who had to start from near the back of the grid propelled his Fireblade up to fifth behind McConnell with seven laps remaining, but that was only to last one lap as he out-paced the Aussie to claim a place. Further up the pack at Church O’Halloran regained second from Haslam only for the Smalley racer to snatch it back at Club on lap thirteen.
But the Honda man was not giving up and at Cobb fought back and Laverty and O’Halloran pulled away slightly. It did appear that some of the rider’s experienced issues with tyre wear, but it was not the case for Irwin as he found some added pace and was up to third at Allard after getting the better of Haslam on the penultimate lap. But Irwin could not catch up with O’Halloran or Laverty, with the Northern Irishman storming to take the win.
When the chequered flag appeared Haslam was pipped to the post by Mossey who nabbed fourth with the remaining JG Speedfit Kawasaki rider’s Peter Hickman and James Ellison completing the top seven.
Local lad, Bennetts Suzuki’s Tommy Bridewell finished in eighth followed by Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot, Buildbase BMW’s Lee Jackson and Kiyonari grabbing eleventh. Smrz, Iddon, Hook (who won his first points for his WD-40 team) and local rider, Martin Jessopp were the last of the points finishers. But Byrne was not the only rider to experience technical issues with his Panigale, as Moto Rapido Ducati’s Danny Buchan returned to his garage with a problem and did not finish the race.
There were a few fallers out on the track, which included Buildbase BMW’s Richard Cooper who clipped the curb at the Club chicane. Fortunately he was unhurt and walked away from the incident.
