Victory at Thruxton keeps Laverty in contention

Laverty sealed his second victory of the season with a brilliant ride on the S1000RR to take the honours ahead of Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran while Carrick’s Glenn Irwin bagged his first podium in the class in third place.

Toomebridge rider Laverty forced his way back into Showdown contention after dropping outside the top six at Snetterton, where he salvaged a podium in race two following a DNF in race one.

The 35-year-old, who is now up to fourth place in the standings, took control and managed his rear tyre life to dictate the pace from the front.

He closed out victory by 3.2 seconds from O’Halloran.

Michael, who finished second in the opening race, said: “We needed to get back into that Showdown contention but we’ve been fast enough at every circuit this year to fight for podiums and wins – we’ve just been very unlucky.

“It’s nice to get a double podium today at a circuit that’s not the strongest for the BMW. All credit has to go to my team because I’ve got a clever bunch around me and they worked smartly all weekend to make sure we had tyre life with the soft tyre.

“I had to ride a patient race and not use my tyre at the front and then I tried to gap them on the last three laps, but it worked a treat.”

Laverty had earlier taken to social media to Tweet: “Awesome feeling when you win through strategy; Patience was key! & A great set-up, huge thanks to my team