Encouraging weekend race results for Laverty brothers

The Toomebridge siblings both recorded notable results in their respective championships.

Michael made the perfect start to the 2016 MCE British Superbike Championship as the local rider clinched the spoils in race one at Silverstone on the Tyco BMW.

The Toomebridge man picked up where he left off in 2015 when he won the final race of the season at Brands Hatch to give the Moneymore team plenty to celebrate at the Northamptonshire circuit, where his team-mate Christian Iddon made it two Tyco BMWs on the rostrum as the Stockport lad finished third.

Laverty made a strong start to work his way past pole man Leon Haslam and although it looked as though he had make a decisive break at the front, four-time champion Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne was on the move and powered through to mount a challenge on the Be Wiser Ducati, although Laverty kept his cool to close out a brilliant victory by half-a-second.

“It was harder at the end because I lost feeling in my hands a little bit because it was so cold and I couldn’t brake where I wanted to and the rear tyre went off,” said Laverty, who won the 2007 British Supersport title for TAS Racing.

“I was losing it in the middle of the corners and I wasn’t able to keep the same pace as I’d hoped for but it was enough to get the job done.

“After the start we had last year, to be on top of the box is awesome.”

Meanwhile, Eugene finished in the points again as the Aspar Ducati rider claimed a solid 12th place at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

Laverty had clinched the best MotoGP result of his career to date the previous weekend in Argentina, when he crossed the line in fourth place at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit on the GP14.2 in an incident-hit race, finishing as the top non-factory rider.

The result leaves Laverty in ninth position in the championship on 21 points after the first three rounds in 2016.