Michael Laverty topped today’s free practice sessions during the penultimate British Superbike round of the season at Silverstone for Tyco BMW. Such was the pace, the top seven riders were all under the existing lap record, with Laverty fully intent on turning his team’s efforts into his first victory of the season on Sunday.
A smiling and relaxed Michael Laverty said afterwards: “It’s been what I expected but I didn’t want to talk overly confident before I came here this weekend. I knew with what we learned at Assen and how much more comfortable I was on the motorbike, I could come here and be strong and we will be at Brands again.
“We have turned a corner and I know I can ride it one hundred percent. I feel at home on the Tyco BMW now and even in this morning’s opening session after just four laps we went to the top of the charts. It was nice to finally come in and say to the boys in the garage, ‘the chassis is mint!’ It’s been a good day all round. We worked on race set up and didn’t get sucked into being overly worried about the laps times in FP2 early on. We just concentrated on our setting and at the end did what we needed, to jump to the top of the sheets in the session.”
Looking ahead to Sunday he confidently added: “We have the pace and I think we can take the fight to Brookesy this weekend, which is a bit of a statement considering how easy he has had it lately. He can top a session and win a race at will, but this weekend I kind of believed I would have something for him and after today I know I will have. It’s nice to be aiming for the top step for the first time this year and I really want that to become a reality on Sunday on the Tyco BMW.”
Tommy Bridewell was running well inside the top ten until his crash in FP1 which cost him vital track time. The Tyco BMW number #46 finished 15th in FP2 but with further track time tomorrow morning, the Wiltshire racer will be back to his best for qualifying.
British Superbike Championship, Silverstone, Free Practice two:
- Michael Laverty (Tyco BMW) 2m:05.370s
- Josh Brookes (Yamaha) +0.074s
- James Ellison (Kawasaki) +0.473s
- John Hopkins (Ducati) +0.476s
- Shane Byrne (Kawasaki) +0.533s
- Luke Mossey (Kawasaki) +0.659s
- Danny Buchan (Kawasaki) +0.659s
- Dan Linfoot (Honda) +1.101s
- Christian Iddon (Suzuki) +1.382s
- Josh Waters (Suzuki) +1.400s
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www.tycobmw.com