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MISANO ADRIATICO, ITALY – JUNE 08: Eugene Laverty of Ireland and Aprilia Racing Team rounds the bend during the first day of practice of round 7 of 2012 Superbike FIM World Championship at Misano World Circuit on June 8, 2012 in Misano Adriatico, Italy. (Photo by Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images)
The Aprilia Racing Team rider, Eugene Laverty, is ready for his first Aprilia win, now that the mechanical problems are resolved. He started as one of the favourites for this season. However, after his two podiums at Assen and Monza, things started to go wrong. It seemed like there was a key element on the electronics package of his bike that wasn’t working properly.
The electrical problem caused him to end his Donington race with a DNF and 15th place overall. “We left Monza knowing we were in a position to move forward in the championship race and it was a big shock that lasted for three rounds. I really could not get out of turns. When we went to the Aragon tests to have a reference – same track we tested at in March – it was clear that something was wrong with the bike after just two or three laps.”
“We put our heads together and it took all of five or ten minutes to find out what the problems was, which was frustrating in a way. I went back out again and it was back to business, so I could have left the test after three laps. The bike had thought it was wheelying all the time, a similar problem to what we had in Donington race one, even though that was an extreme case of it. It was cutting power before the bike was wheelying, which then in turn created more wheelie. It had been such a big problem it had been losing me 0.75 or a second a lap, and you cannot give that away to your rivals in SBK, especially when Max Biaggi is your team-mate.”
Now that the problem is solved, Laverty is ready to aim for his first Aprilia win. “I will still try for top three in the championship but that is not my concern right now. I just want to win as many races as possible. With the bike we have I reckon we can have a good shot at it. I want to win a lot of races.”
Last year Eugene took two victories when riding for the Yamaha team.
