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CRUCIAL COMEBACK FOR LAVERTY Red Bull Rookies Honda rider Eugene Laverty made a crucial comeback during the final minute of this afternoon’s 125GP qualifying session at Mallory Park. The 18-year-old rider from Northern Ireland gained a full second on his RS125 to move from the fifth to the second row of the grid with just a matter of seconds remaining.
It is important for Laverty to start tomorrow’s 24-lap race from as near to the front as possible at the 1.39-mile Leicestershire track if he is to maintain his challenge for the championship lead. The Toomebridge teenager’s position had fluctuated during the 20-minute session in which he struggled to reach any higher than 13th place until the final lap when he recorded a time of 56.039 seconds.
It was the exact opposite for his team-mate Steven Neate who had been ahead of Laverty for the majority of qualifying. Frustratingly, the 17-year-old Barton-le-Clay rider dropped from just outside of the top ten to 17th place on the final lap with a best time of 56.507 seconds in the closely fought session which saw just 1.4 seconds separating the top 18 riders.
Eugene Laverty: “That was a close shave. I just made it for the last lap before the chequered flag went out. We’ve been working hard to find the best set-up and the improvements made during the last session paid dividends. Starting from the second row will make a big difference, so I’m happy enough with the way things turned out in the end.”
Steven Neate: “It’s been a bit of a mixed day for me. This morning I was fast in the first section with room for improvement on the rest of the circuit. This afternoon it was the exact opposite. So, I’ll have to look to put it all together tomorrow, especially now that I’m starting from the fifth row.”
Qualifying times: 1. C. Elkin (Honda) 55.126; 2. M. Wilcox (Honda) 55.343; 3. J. Dickinson (Honda) 55.690; 4. A. Beech (Honda) 55.708; 5. B. Clark (Honda) 55.884; 6. K. Weston (Honda) 55.926; 7. E. Laverty (Red Bull Rookies Honda) 56.039; 8. J. Pearson (Honda) 56.063; 9. T. Bridewell (Honda) 56.065; 10. P. Robinson (Honda) 56.083; 17. S. Neate (Red Bull Rookies Honda) 56.507
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