Stobart Motorsport rider Michael Laverty emerged with a best finish of fifth position following on round six of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship held at Mallory Park in Leicestershire today. Riding the VK and Vent Axia backed Honda Fireblade, the 24 year old Ulsterman celebrated his impending birthday in fine style by following up his fifth position in the opening race with a strong result in race two to claim seventh after the two hectic 28 lap races around the revised Mallory circuit.
Team mate Michael Rutter, racing at his local circuit whereby he took a double last year, recorded a pair of sixth place finishes after a strong performance in the opening stages of each race but sadly he faded back as each race progressed and now lies in seventh position in the Championship.
Laverty who is just nine points behind his team mate commented “I’m happy enough with the first race. Fifth was pretty good and in the second race I wanted to be able to fight with Shakey Byrne and Karl Harris but I seemed to lose a bit on a couple of the corners and there was nothing I could do to challenge them. It’s a step forward and we’re closer to the leaders but we need to do more at Snetterton, but at least we’re going in the right direction.”
Meanwhile Rutter was reasonably pleased with his best combined performance of the season. “Two sixth place finishes are not ideal but at least we’re back on the pace and in the second half of the season I’m hoping to be challenging for rostrums and race wins as we’ve had a tough time of it of late. The bike worked well and we are now making real progress and I’m looking forward to Snetterton in two weeks’ time” commented Rutter who finished third is last season’s chase.
Prior to jetting back to the Isle of Man to oversee his team’s assault on the 2006 TT races, team owner Paul Bird said “We’ve put in some strong performances today and both riders proved in the early stages that we are not a spent force yet. We have work to do but hopefully we’re now turning the corner and we can look forward to better results in the forthcoming races.”
Stobart Motorsport TT rider Ian Lougher, who finished second in the Superbike TT yesterday, hopes to go one better on Friday when he takes the Stuart Bland prepared Honda Fireblade into the Senior TT hoping to land his first big bike win.
Laverty and Rutter will be in action in two weeks’ time for round seven of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Snetterton.
Superbike Race One Result:1, Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 27:06.734s,
2, Leon Haslam (Ducati) +1.935s,
3, Gregorio Lavilla (Ducati) +4.856s,
4, Shane Byrne (Suzuki) +7.325s,
5, Michael Laverty (Stobart Honda) +9.028s,
6, Michael Rutter (Stobart Honda) +11.249s,
7, Karl Harris (Honda) +22.092s,
8, Dean Thomas +24.764s,
9, Craig Coxhell +27.420s,
10. Ben Wilson (Suzuki) +36.253s.
Superbike Race Two Result:1, Gregorio Lavilla (Ducati) 26m21.786s,
2, Leon Haslam (Ducati) +1.310s,
3, Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) +4.188s,
4, Karl Harris (Honda) +10.141s,
5, Shane Byrne (Suzuki) +10.409s,
6, Michael Rutter (Stobart Honda) +11.305s,
7, Michael Laverty (Stobart Honda) +15.904s,
8, Jonathan Rea (Honda) +21.657s,
9, Dean Thomas (Kawasaki) +24.405s,
10, Glen Richards (Honda) +28.108s.
BSB Championship Standings (after round 6):1, Gregorio Lavilla (Ducati) 223pts
2, Leon Haslam (Ducati) 161pts
3, Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 149pts
4, Karl Harris (Honda) 110pts
5, Shane Byrne (Suzuki) 105pts
6, Jonathan Rea (Honda) 83pts
7, Michael Rutter (Stobart Honda) 81pts
8, Michael Laverty (Stobart Honda) 72pts
9, Tommy Hill (Yamaha) 61pts
10, Dean Thomas (Kawasaki) 59pts
Related Linkswww.stobartmotorsport.com
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