PARKALGAR HONDA racer Eugene Laverty took a well-earned second place at the seventh round of the World Supersport Championship at Miller Motorsports Park in the USA, while his team mate Miguel Praia scored a season best equalling 12th.

Eugene led for 17 of the 18-laps and was hit and passed with only a handful of corners to go by Honda’s Kenan Sofuoglu who won the race. Miguel, still recovering from a crash during practice, grew in confidence as the race developed. The eighth round of the Championship - and the start of the second half of the season - is at Misano in San Marino on Sunday June 21st.

Eugene: “I didn’t expect Kenan to pass where he did, I was already in the corner and I am just happy we both stayed on. We could easily have both ended on the deck when he hit me - he bounced off me and stayed on. If I hadn’t been there he’d have kept going and ended up in the Salt Lake. Fair play to him though, he’s had bad moves made on him in previous rounds. Initially I didn’t see who had passed me and got on the gas straight away and then saw it was Kenan and breathed a sigh of relief it was not Cal Crutchlow. It was most important to beat Cal here and we did that so I am not too disappointed in the result.”

Miguel: “I finished so close to the top 10 - just one-second away. It was a tough race but in the end I am very pleased with the job that the Parkalgar Honda team did to provide me with a great race bike; and also to the doctors for helping me to get on the bike and race. Yesterday morning I missed the session because I couldn’t ride after my practice crash late on Friday. This is a great result and I did everything I could but simply didn’t have the energy to do anymore. My Parkalgar Honda is so good; this is what made the result possible, maybe my best race ever. Missing the session on Saturday hurt us at this new circuit but well done to the team and I will move on and go for the top 10 at the next round.”

Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “That was a hard move by Kenan on Eugene but our congratulations go to Ten Kate Honda for the race win. We are happy as Eugene has now closed the gap to just nine points in the Championship chase. Well done to Miguel for racing so hard after his crash and equalling his best result of the year. He is knocking on the door of the top 10 and it will come soon.”

Race Result

1 54 Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR600RR 34′00.510 (155,831 kph) 
2 Laverty E. (IRL) PARKALGAR HONDA CBR600RR 0.368 
3 Crutchlow C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 0.521 
4 Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1.833 
5 Foret F. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 12.071 
6 McCoy G. (AUS) Triumph Daytona 675 18.108 
7 Pitt A. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 25.912 
8 Pirro M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 26.867 
9 Lagrive M. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 30.411 
10 West A. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 31.393 
12 Praia M. (POR) PARKALGAR HONDA CBR600RR 32.572

Championship Positions (after seven of 14 rounds)

1: Crutchlow 135

2: Laverty (PARKALGAR HONDA) 126

3: Sofuoglu 108

4: Pitt 73

5: Lascorz 73

6: West 66

17: Praia (PARKALGAR HONDA) 12.