BSB: 'Brands is most important round outside the showdown'

Tyco BMW’s Michael Laverty heads into the second of the 2016 MCE British Superbike championship on a high after a victory and second place at Thruxton last weekend.

Despite being on the pace all year, Laverty struggled to make an impression on his rivals after winning the opening race of the season at Silverstone. The Northern Irishman went eight races before he returned to the podium at Snetterton early last month.

Taking home 45 points from Thruxton, Laverty vaulted from seventh to fourth in the standings across the weekend and now has a 17 point lead on fifth-placed Dan Linfoot, making him feel much more secure as the showdown cut-off point looms.

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“Thruxton was important for the championship as I’ve got a good buffer to the guy behind and if I’m being honest, I can see the top six as it stands (Byrne, Haslam, O’Halloran, Laverty, Linfoot, Ellison) being the showdown title fighters as the Hondas have been very strong recently and Ellison has race winning potential. It’ll be a tough ask for the rest to get in and even for my team-mate, Christian Iddon to get back in after dropping out this weekend.” 

An added bonus for Laverty is he heads to the Brands Grand Prix circuit having won the last race held on that configuration at the end of last season. With the series visiting the GP circuit twice and the second visit being for the ultimate title decider in October, Laverty will be working his Tyco BMW team hard this weekend in search of an optimum set-up.

“Brands GP is a really important round, maybe the most important in the non-showdown part of the season as it’s where the title is decided in October. If we are in the fight, we need to be in a position to win two or three races so we have to work this weekend towards having the speed and set-up to do that both now and in October.”  

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