Laverty forced out by stuck throttle for Milwaukee Aprilia

Eugene Laverty says his race two at Donington Park “was a disaster” with a scary technical problem with his Milwaukee Aprilia which caused his throttle to get stuck open.

Having secured a solid sixth place in the opener at the British round, his best result of the 2018 campaign, Laverty looked to attack from the front row on the reversed race two grid.

After a strong start Laverty suffered a locked rear wheel half way around the first lap dropping him down the order before further heartache struck when his throttle became stuck open due to a suspected electrical glitch.

Laverty felt he had no option but to retire from the race which soured what had looked a promising race weekend.

“I had a problem on the first lap where the rear wheel locked after turn seven,” Laverty said. “I thought I had oil in the tyre but there was some bug issue with the bike. I tried to stay in the race and at least salvage some points, but the throttle stuck open about halfway which scared me.

“I lost a few more places trying to make sure I didn't collide with another rider, and then it happened again and nearly put me in the wall. After that it wasn't worth the risk so I boxed.

“I'm not happy with how the weekend went overall, we were quick in the warm up today but then had an electronics issue at the end, and then again in the race we had a problem which was a disaster.”

Laverty is eager to fightback strongly at the next round for the World Superbike championship’s return to Brno which he feels will play to the strengths of his Milwaukee Aprilia package.

“The bike should work well in Brno, anywhere with long corners suits us,” Laverty said. “The other guys have tested there this year so they have a slight head start, but I'm confident we can put on a good performance there.”