PARKALGAR HONDA’S Eugene Laverty is provisionally fifth and Miguel Praia 13th on the grid for Sunday’s 11th round of the World Supersport Championship at the Nurburgring in Germany after a frustrating day held them back from showing their true potential.

There is another practice and qualifying session tomorrow before the race takes place at 1330 local time on Sunday, September 5th. To follow the team visit the website at Parkalgar Honda.

Eugene: “We were fastest in the morning session and had a really good direction for the afternoon. The lap times were coming easy and we were very positive but then the qualifying session turned into one of ‘those sessions’ where nothing seems to come together. I set my fastest lap early on a used tyre then had an electrical problem that was fixed. I then had a slow speed crash, changed bike and the front tyre gave me no feel. I changed that but by then the rear tyre was shot and after that I struggled to get into my rhythm on either bike. It’s a case of lessons learnt and looking forward to tomorrow, we know we can run at the front and just want to put this session behind us.”

Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “Eugene had a slow speed crash mid qualifying and that lost him momentum. There was no injury or damage and at the end he was looking good for second place but lost time on his last sector to finish fifth. Miguel had an electrical problem in the morning that meant he effectively lost the session. Given that, he rode very well in qualifying to take 13th. It’s been a frustrating day but we are rising to the challenge and expect a lot more tomorrow – the weather forecast is good so we should be able to improve both riders.”

First qualification

1 54 K. SOFUOGLU TUR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR600RR 1′59.276

2 25 D. SALOM ESP ParkinGO BE1 Triumph Triumph Daytona 675 1′59.277

3 4 G. REA GBR Intermoto Czech Honda CBR600RR 1′59.807

4 37 K. FUJIWARA JPN Kawasaki Motocard.com Kawasaki ZX-6R 1′59.818

5 50 E. LAVERTY IRL Parkalgar Honda Honda CBR600RR 1′59.964

6 99 F. FORET FRA Team Lorenzini by Leoni Kawasaki ZX-6R 2′00.104

7 23 B. PARKES AUS Kawasaki Motocard.com Kawasaki ZX-6R 2′00.275

8 51 M. PIRRO ITA HANNspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR600RR 2′00.423

9 14 M. LAGRIVE FRA ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Triumph Daytona 675 2′00.535

10 18 M. AITCHISON AUS Kuja Racing Honda CBR600RR 2′00.538

13 117 M. PRAIA POR Parkalgar Honda Honda CBR600RR 2′01.266

PARKALGAR HONDA’S Eugene Laverty won a nail-biting 10th round of the World Supersport Championship at Silverstone in the UK while his team mate Miguel Praia scored a career best sixth in the best ever race day result for the Portuguese owned, UK operated team.

The battle for the win was between Eugene and Kenan Sofuoglu on another Honda and neither gave an inch until the last lap when Eugene made a decisive pass and held on to take his sixth victory out of 10 starts to win in front of an enthusiastic home crowd.

Miguel starting from 12th finished a career best sixth, less than four seconds from the podium in what is his best race performance ever at World Championship level.

Eugene: “It is nice to win our home race and it was a tough one. My plan had to change several times through the race. First I made a break but then Kenan put in some quick laps and then I decided to drop back and see where he was weak. I spotted his weak areas but he could have been sandbagging so I passed him again on the last lap with plenty of corners to spare and found that he really was weaker and not pretending. It is especially nice to beat Kenan in this sort of race because he is not used to losing this sort of fight and that makes it an important psychological win. My Parkalgar Honda was brilliant, we ran faster lap times than I expected and it was the best bike on the day.”

Miguel: “My Parkalgar Honda was perfect and I was very comfortable running the pace to fight for fifth and sixth places. When Chaz (Davies) passed me he was quite aggressive and sideways and I lost two places. I then sat behind Lagrive and we were catching Harms. I left my overtake on Lagrive too late to then make a pass on Chaz but I am delighted with my new personal best. I was only three-seconds from the podium and in the top six; I am so very happy and must thank my Parkalgar Honda team, the bike they gave me was fantastic.”

Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “The best ever results for the Parkalgar Honda team at its second home round in the UK. This win goes with Eugene’s victory at our home track of Parkalgar in Portugal in 2009 as a highlight for us all. Well done to Eugene, he beat Kenan fair and square and the race for the title is very much alive. Miguel rode an inspired race from a poor qualifying position of 12th – his potential is now starting to come through and as a team we are proud of him. Christian has shown superb promise racing against the best riders in the World and UK – it would be interesting to see how well he would perform if he had more experience on the bike and with our team; I think he would surprise a lot of people. Well done to the whole Parkalgar Honda squad and thank you to the many fans and supporters that came to see us this weekend.”

Race Result

1 50 Laverty E. (IRL) Parkalgar Honda CBR600RR 34′35.068 (163,829 kph)
2 54 Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR600RR 0.220
3 4 Rea G. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 12.451
4 7 Davies C. (GBR) Triumph Daytona 675 13.683
5 127 Harms R. (DEN) Honda CBR600RR 13.839
6 117 Praia M. (POR) Parkalgar Honda CBR600RR 15.699
7 14 Lagrive M. (FRA) Triumph Daytona 675 16.709
8 25 Salom D. (ESP) Triumph Daytona 675 17.593
9 55 Roccoli M. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 22.837
10 11 Lowes S. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 23.092
17 21 Iddon C. (GBR) Parkalgar Honda CBR600RR 55.198

Championship Positions (After 10 of 13 rounds)

1: Sofuoglu 203

2: Laverty Parkalgar Honda 186

3: Lascorz 168

4: Davies 126

5: Rea 83

6: Harms 82

7: Salom 80

8: Lagrive 65

9: Fujiwara 60

10: Pirro 58

11: Praia Parkalgar Honda 57.

PARKALGAR HONDA’S Eugene Laverty took a brilliant pole position at his home track at Silverstone in the UK beating off his title rivals to set up a thrilling 10th round of the World Supersport Championship.

Miguel Praia will start from 12th and the third row of the grid after a tough qualifying session when he failed to improve on his lap time from yesterday. Wild card rider for this round Christian Iddon took 2.5seconds from his lap time yesterday and will start from 23rd on his World Championship debut. The race takes place on Sunday August 1st at 1330 local time at Silverstone in the UK. Also at the Track Eugene Laverty Merchandise will be on sale at George Whites stand. Located just behind the start/finish grandstands.

Eugene: “There is not much in it at the front of the grid. I am happy to get a pole position here at the team’s second home round after Parkalgar in Portugal – especially as I made mistakes on my last two-laps. The difference in lap times from using a worn to a new tyre is very little; I can do similar lap times on either. I think we are in a good position, our race set-up is strong.”

Miguel: “After my crash late in yesterday’s qualifying I approached today differently and tried to go through my crash corner in a different gear. I tried in second gear, the same as Eugene, but it didn’t work for me. In the end I went back to third gear and it was better. In the second half of the session I tried to go quickly by myself and found that I have a good rhythm for the race – even though I am disappointed to have dropped down the grid; it is very close here, I am only 1-second from pole position.”

Christian: “Before the session I had a chat with Eugene and he told me the lines I need to take. I am still riding more like a Superbike and struggling to let the bike run through the corners; I want to stop it, turn and fire out but that doesn’t work on a 600. But the important thing is I am quicker than before and making progress every session – for the first time I could feel the bike move and now have an idea where some limits are. The Parkalgar Honda bike and team are absolutely mega and in the race I want to try and get with the group in front and challenge inside the top 20.”

Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “That was a great qualifying lap from Eugene and he backed it up with several laps close to the same time, he is in good shape to contest the win. Miguel was consistent but didn’t improve his lap time – he needs to dig very deep now and keep his confidence high for the race because he is better than 12th place as qualifying suggests. Christian has really cut his lap times and is learning fast, if he can find more in warm-up then a top 20 result is possible for him which would be outstanding given the level of competition here.”

Final Qualifying

1: LAVERTY, PARKALGAR HONDA 2:09.426

2: Sofuoglu +0.030

3: Lascorz +0.035

4: Tamburini +0.111

5: Harms +0.390

6: Rea +0.390

7: Fujiwara +0.764

8: Roccoli +0.830

9: Davies +0.832

10: Salom +0.836

12: PRAIA, PARKALGAR HONDA +1.012

23: IDDON, PARKALGAR HONDA +3.358