Cecchinello praises rookie Laverty

LCR Honda boss Lucio Cecchinello has praised rookie Eugene Laverty after the Irish rider claimed his first world 250 championship points in last weekend’s Spanish GP.

The 20-year-old scored a brilliant 14th place finish in Jerez to break his points duck well ahead of schedule, as he’d targeted challenging for the top 15 in the second half of the season.

Laverty, who rejected the chance of a top factory ride in the British superbike championship to try and make it on the world stage, might have finished 11th in Jerez had he not suffered severe arm pump problems caused by a new set of leathers being too tight.

Cecchinello said: “I am very, very happy with him. I am very happy with his attitude and he is a great guy to work with.

“It is going to be a long process but we have to give him the best we can to give him a chance.

“To score points in only his second race is a fantastic achievement, and it could have been 11th had he not had the arm problem and that would have been an amazing result.

“We set him goals for each weekend to motivate him and team. In Jerez we asked him to set a best time of 1.46.5 over the weekend and he did that in the race. This result has been a real motivation for him and the team.”

Laverty claimed 14th in Jerez even though his production Honda machine is one of the slowest on the grid.

He was delighted and disappointed at the same time, having been frustrated that the leathers problem had cost him an even better finish.

He’d been forced to wear the new suit having destroyed a set in a massive crash at Turn Three on Saturday morning.

“I’m disappointed because of the leathers. I wore them after the crash but didn’t do enough consecutive laps to realise the arms were going to restrict me so much,” said Laverty.

“I knew I was going to have a problem eight laps in and in the second half of the race I had to use all my fingers on the levers just to get feeling. That’s unfortunate because it could have been 11th.

Laverty, who moved to Cecchinello’s squad after finishing third in last year’s British Supersport series, said: “It’s not the way I want to ride, constantly looking over my shoulder wondering what position I could hold because I knew I was going to be going backwards.

“I had to ease off to stay on board because the arm problem was so bad.”

Laverty though enjoyed a phenomenal first lap in Jerez, jumping from 25th on the grid to 15th, that set him up for his first points.

And he added: “I made a good start in Qatar and got by a few at the first corner but at the second corner I got barged wide and that cost me five or six places.

“The first lap is like no other in GPs. Even on the straights they are backing off because they really bed themselves in because they know it is a long race.

“But you just have to be brave. I knew I could get a good start and passed a few guys at the first corner and then out-braked a few on the first lap.”