Imola WSS: Laverty closes to within two points of Crutchlow in Imola thriller

Cal Crutchlow saw his once commanding championship lead get slashed to just two points in a two part aggregate race at Imola.

Despite being the fastest man on track, Crutchlow suffered a false neutral on the way into the fast Acque Minerali corner and crashed out of the lead gifting Ten Kate Honda man Kenan Sofuoglu the win.

Despite suffereing from severe arm pump, Laverty turned what was looking like a bad weekend into a fantastic result with an inspired ride to second position over the two part race.

Laverty said: “In practice I was struggling with my arm and could only do two laps at a time so I’m surprised I could even finish the race. To be second is amazing so with two rounds to go it’s all to play for.”

Third place went to Yamaha man Fabien Foret with wild card man Chaz Davies impressing on his WSS debut to claim a strong fourth spot.

Aggregate race results

1 2 54 K. SOFUOGLU TUR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR600RR

2 7 50 E. LAVERTY IRL Parkalgar Honda Honda CBR600RR 19 5.372

3 8 99 F. FORET FRA Yamaha World Supersport TeamYamaha YZF R6 19 6.450

4 11 23 C. DAVIES GBR ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Triumph Daytona 675 19 15.847

5 5 24 G. MCCOY AUS ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Triumph Daytona 675 19 15.944

6 9 1 A. PITT AUS HANNspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR600RR 19 16.001

7 12 21 K. FUJIWARA JPN Kawasaki Motocard.com Kawasaki ZX-6R 19 27.097

8 15 13 A. WEST AUS Stiggy Racing Honda Honda CBR600RR 19 27.835

9 13 117 M. PRAIA POR Parkalgar Honda Honda CBR600RR 19 32.846

10 14 9 D. DELL’OMO ITA Kuja Racing Honda CBR600RR 19 33.315

11 10 51 M. PIRRO ITA Yamaha Lorenzini by Leoni Yamaha YZF R6 19 33.576

12 20 33 C. MIGLIORATI ITA Puccetti Racing Kawasaki ZX-6R 19 44.958

13 23 199 O. FOUR FRA Intermoto Czech Honda CBR600RR 19 59.645

14 16 77 B. VENEMAN NED George White Ten Kate R. Honda CBR600RR 19 1’06.270 1′

15 22 40 F. GENTILE ITA Honda Althea Racing Honda CBR600RR 19 1’14.735

16 24 28 A. VOS NED Veidec Racing RES Software Honda CBR600RR 19 1’18.933

17 26 34 E. RUSSO ITA Holiday Gym Racing Yamaha YZF R6 19 1’25.012

Not Classified

RET 1 35 C. CRUTCHLOW GBR Yamaha World Supersport TeamYamaha YZF R6 16 3 Laps

RET 3 26 J. LASCORZ ESP Kawasaki Motocard.com Kawasaki ZX-6R 10 9 Laps

RET 21 5 T. PRADITA INA YZF Yamaha Yamaha YZF R6 10 9 Laps

RET 27 47 L. PEDERSOLI ITA ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Triumph Daytona 675 8 11 Laps

RET 4 55 M. ROCCOLI ITA Intermoto Czech Honda CBR600RR 6 13 Laps

RET 25 22 R. MURESAN ROU MS Racing Triumph Daytona 675 4 15 Laps

RET 19 16 S. LOWES GBR Echo CRS Grand Prix Honda CBR600RR 2 17 Laps

RET 17 25 M. LAVERTY GBR Echo CRS Grand Prix Honda CBR600RR 1 18 Laps

RET 6 8 M. AITCHISON AUS Honda Althea Racing Honda CBR600RR 0

NS 28 30 J. GÜNTHER GER RES Software Veidec Racing Honda CBR600RR