News

Laverty recovers from crash to seventh as Savadori is 13th

Monday, 15 May 2017 11:59 GMT
    • The Milwaukee Aprilia team riders review a tough weekend at Imola
    After a high speed crash in Race 1 at the Motul Italian Round Eugene Laverty rode well from 10th on the grid in Race 2 to pick up a solid points haul in seventh.
     
    The Irishman’s Italian colleague in the Milwaukee Aprilia team Lorenzo Savadori did not quite get the results he would have hope for at his home Round, finishing 12th in Race 1 and 13th on Sunday.
     
    Laverty made a good start in Race 2 pulling away well to initially ride in eighth place, pursuing Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team pair Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark. On lap 12 Laverty seized on the opportunity to pass Van der Mark for P7, where he ultimately finished.
     
    After Race 2, Laverty commented, “I am content to finish the race, that was the main thing after having an accident like that on Saturday, to get back on the horse and back in the fight again. We were there fighting with the Yamahas and that is our race right now, unfortunately we can’t get after the front guys. Seventh is our best result of the year so we need to make some headway, but as things stand it was a good race.”
     
    Taking the positives from the weekend and looking ahead to Donington he added, “We learnt so much, especially in regard to the weight distribution which we’ve struggled with. It confirmed our thoughts over the last few rounds of the direction we need to take, and hopefully some of the ideas we have to try at Donington Park will move us forward. I’m optimistic and excited to race at the home round in the UK, and I’d like to make that step further there in front of our fans.”
     
    Savadori, meanwhile, had a more difficult Sunday in front of the Italian fans, starting in P12 and dropping back as the race got underway. He then settled into a consistent rhythm and gradually forced his way through into the point scoring positions, defending his ground from Stefan Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) and Raffaele de Rosa (Althea BMW Racing Team) to bring his bike home for three points in P13.
     
    Savadori commented, “The main problem was stopping the bike and turning, which was a problem yesterday too. I am happy to get more points for the team in both races, but we know that we can be fighting for the higher positions.”
     
    “We didn’t start this weekend in a very good direction, but we have a lot of data to analyse for the next race at Donington Park. I know for sure that the guys at SMR and Aprilia Racing are working really hard, and believe we can make progress for Round 6.”