‘Damage limitation’ for Laverty in Misano

Voltcom Crescent Suzuki rider Eugene Laverty has walked – or limped – away from the Misano round of the World Superbike championship having limited the damages to his championship efforts with a ninth and seventh place, after the Northern Irishman re-broke the bones in his foot he damaged last month testing the Suzuki MotoGP bike.

“In race one, a few laps in at turn five while I was pushing on the footrest I felt something snap inside my foot. There was a lot of pain and I struggled to ride for the next five laps but I didn’t want to pull in so I just adjusted my foot and for the last five or six laps I was able to ride again and start pushing.”

“For the second race I sought medical attention which allowed me to ride in a different way – I had to keep my foot in a strange position on the footrest but at least that allowed me to fight and race, because I thought I wouldn’t be able to race again. It’s unfortunate because I thought the foot was coming ok; it’s ok to walk, but to ride the bike the break is exactly at the point I need to push on the footrest and I think I’ve done more damage now than originally. I’ll do my best to be as strong as I can be in Portimao, and hope we can be close to the front.”