SPLITLATH Redmond riders John Laverty and Florian Marino crossed the line 20th and 22nd in today’s MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship race at Oulton Park.

In a shortened re-started race, both riders rode a solid eight laps to bring their Aprilia RSV4 machines home, collecting lots of data which will be useful for tomorrow’s two races at the Cheshire track.

For Laverty, it was his first race at the circuit since he suffered horrific injuries in a crash last July, and the Irishman – who is still fighting his way back to fitness – was pleased with his progress. Having started from 25th on the grid, he made up two places in the first lap and then worked his way up further to cross the line 20th.

“It’s good to get that first race here under my belt, and now I think we can all just move on from it,” he said. “It was a hard race, I am still getting tired and have a fair way to go yet before I’m fully fit but I have to take the positives.

“We started 25th and moved up five places. I made some good moves on a couple of guys out there and I’m happy with what we’ve learned about the bike here today. It means we can make more changes so we can hopefully finish higher up the order tomorrow.”


For Marino, it was a tougher race than he had planned after he was forced to start from the back of the grid. Having been running in 25th spot when the race was initially stopped, he dived into the garage to make some set-up changes. As a result he was late getting out and had to start the warm-up lap from pit lane, and then start the race from last place.

“I have to take a 22nd and be happy with it because I started right at the back and had a lot of work to do,” said the French teenager. “I am still learning a lot about the Superbike and I wanted to make some changes for the restart but unfortunately this meant I was a little late so had to start at the back.

“We have two more races here tomorrow and I think we can take a lot of what we have learnt today and use this to make two better races tomorrow. I am looking forward to it.”

Team co-owner John Dimbylow added: “That was a fantastic performance from John Laverty on the circuit which almost claimed his life last year. I have the greatest of respect for the guy, what a result.

“Florian had to overcome some mechanical issues and lack of practice to turn in a good result and make some big strides forward in the development of the machine.

“We are still a new team and are moving forward as we had hoped. I think tomorrow both riders will be able to deliver even better results with the data we have gained today, and we are all looking forward to coming back in the morning and seeing what we can achieve together then.”