Aprilia’s Eugene Laverty overcame a disappointing qualifying performance to twice finish inside the top six at the second World Superbike round in Italy.

The 26-year-old was badly hampered by severe chatter on his RSV4 machine during the Superpole session and could only manage a third row start in 11th position on the grid.

Laverty, though, displayed all his fighting qualities to bag some vital points, although it was clear the Northern Ireland star had set his sights higher after a frustrating start to the season in Australia, where he failed to finish race one and could only manage eighth in the second as he struggled with a hand injury.

“A fifth and sixth place are not bad at all after the Superpole, but I won’t pretend I wouldn’t have liked to have been battling with the guys at the front,” he said.

“I got a good start in both races and in the second we made some good progress on the RSV4 but the pace of the group up front was just too fast. We need to keep working.

“These two races were useful for providing a lot of information on the bike, we’ll work on that in the tests in the hope that it will give us a hand from the next round.”


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