Eugene Laverty

Infobox 250cc rider
Name = Eugene Laverty
Nationality = flagicon|IRL Irish
Birthdate = Birth date and age|1986|06|03
Birthplace = Ballymena, Northern Ireland
Website = [http://www.eugenelaverty.com/ eugenelaverty.com]
Bike number = 50
Current team = Blusens Aprilia
Championships = 0
Race Starts = 19
Race Wins = 0
Podiums = 0
Poles = 0
Fastest laps = 0
Last season = 2008
Last position = 20th (7pts)Infobox motorcycle rider
125 Active years = MGP|2004
125 Championships = 0
125 Manufacturers = Honda
125 Race Starts = 1
125 Race Wins = 0
125 Podiums = 0
125 Poles = 0
125 Fastest laps = 0

Eugene Laverty (born 3 June, 1986 in Ballymena Northern Ireland) is a professional motorcycle road racer, the brother of Michael and John. In 2008 he has competed in both the 250cc World Championship and the World Supersport series.

Early Days

Laverty was runner up in the 2004 British 125cc Championship. He had a successful year in 2006 aboard the Dunlop shod Red Bull Honda CBR600RR. He was a top challenger for the British Supersport title, but finished third overall behind Cal Crutchlow and Tom Sykes, with four wins [http://www.trymysport.co.uk/sports_news/honda_racing_news/2006/oct_06/red_bull_honda_brands_races.htm] . He had previously finished 9th overall as a series rookie in 2005.

Grands Prix

For 2007, he raced in the 250cc Grand Prix World Championship for LCR Honda [http://www.crash.net/motorsport/motogp/feature/11078-0/qa_eugene_laverty.html] finishing in 25th place overall with a best result of 14th. A strong run at Barcelona produced no points due to an engine problem [http://www.bikehq.co.uk/news/article/7,257/Eugene-Laverty-MotoGP-race-report./] .

For MGP|2008 it was expected that he would go back to Britain and further his career in Supersports or Superbikes, but he was signed by Blusens Aprilia on December 18th to continue to race in 250cc with privateer motorcycles [http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/06122007/58/season-2008-250s-blusens-ride-laverty.html] . He scored points in China and Portugal, but at Le Mans he crashed at the one remaining wet corner as the circuit dried [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/motorbikes/7407171.stm] .

upersports

Plans for him to make his World Superbike debut later that year [http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/10072008/23/laverty-wsbk-debut.html] were scrapped when Chris Walker joined the team full-time, but he instead joined the factory Yamaha team in World Supersport as a temporary replacement for the injured Fabien Foret. Despite riding injured following a crash at the 2008 Indianapolis Motorcycle Grand Prix a week earlier, he moved up from an early 7th to battle championship leader Andrew Pitt and team-mate Broc Parkes for 2nd. Parkes got the better of him, but he finished on the podium after surviving contact with Pitt which eliminated the Honda rider. He decided before this race to end his 250cc season, and focus on a fulltime WSS ride for 2009 [http://www.crash.net/motorsport/motogp/news/169340-0/250__laverty_quits_blusens_to_seek_wss_fortune.html] .

External links

[http://www.motogp.com/en/riders/profiles/Eugene+Laverty Profile on MotoGP website]

Career Statistics

By season

* * Season in Progress

External links

* [http://www.eugenelaverty.com/ eugenelaverty.com] Official website