BSB: Further step forward for Laverty at Knockhill

Published: 24 June 2016

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Michael Laverty was able to benefit further from the shock settings he picked up from team-mate Ian Hutchinson’s successful two weeks at the Isle of Man TT to storm to the top of the timesheets on the first day at Knockhill.

The Tyco BMW man lapped under the official lap record to set the fastest time of the day despite a bout of flu leaving him struggling in the opening session.

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Laverty’s pace comes after he was able to make a huge step forward at last week’s Snetterton test with data gathered by Ian Hutchinson at the 2016 Isle of Man TT, where the Bingley star rode to two second places and a race victory for the Moneymore-based Tyco squad.

“It’s nice to finish the day quickest,” he told MCN. “It’s not easy to do it by any means! You have to fight the bike around here as you’re never going to get the perfect setting because of all the bumps and undulations. It’s such a busy track, even in the straight you’re fighting to stop wheelies so it’s very physical and you feel like you’re really all over the bike. I’m finding I can do 48 second laps consistently and that’s good race pace, there are a few things we’d like to try in the morning just to settle the bike a bit but we’re in the ballpark on the first day.

“We’ve kept the shock from Snetterton in, it’s been a good step and we’ve taken another step forward today too. It seems to be settling the rear down a little bit more, the BMW has a short stroke engine so it spins up very easily so the bike can get very lively very quickly so the new shock setting has really helped to calm that down. Especially at Clark Curve here, when you shift through the gears, third, fourth, fifth, the bike really wants to start to pump and we’ve managed to settle that down a lot today.”

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By Oli Rushby

Former sports reporter covering British Superbikes, World Superbikes and road racing