Eugene Laverty
Eugene Laverty Biography
After spending the 2007 and 2008 seasons battling uncompetitive machinery in the 250cc world championship, Eugene Laverty switched to World Supersport and battled for the title in both 2009 and 2010, then won World Superbike races for Yamaha, Aprilia and Suzuki from 2011-2017.
By then a 13-time WorldSBK race winner, Laverty took the plunge and signed for MotoGP, just as older brother Michael was leaving.
But while Michael had battled an uncompetitive PBM, Eugene's first 2015 season in the top flight would also prove largely frustrating. Much like team-mate Nicky Hayden, Laverty’s determined efforts couldn’t be faulted, but with the Open-spec Honda still no match for its Ducati and Yamaha counterparts, Laverty never found the sweet spot.
Points’ finishes in four races at least kept him on Hayden’s tail, before he and the Aspar team switched to Ducati machinery for 2016.
Laverty took the aging satellite Desmosedici to points finishes in almost every race, including what would be a career-best fourth place in Argentina. But when it became clear he would have only a two-year-old Desmosedici for 2017, with Aspar's one-year-old bike going to new team-mate Alvaro Bautista, Laverty elected to move back to WorldSBK and headline a new factory-Aprilia supported SMR project.
"I've been pondering going back to WorldSBK for a while, including when the Kawasaki seat could have been available, as I have unfinished business there," Laverty told Crash.net at the time.
"At that time I was still unsure of what was available in MotoGP, so I didn't want to jumping the gun until I really knew what was on offer here.
"I kept pushing to try and get a GP16. But when I knew my team-mate was going to be on a GP16 and there was just going to be a GP15 for me it was a case of head over heart.
"Ultimately, it was the competitiveness of the machinery that tipped the balance for me.
"I would really be up against it in MotoGP if I was to continue riding a two-year-old bike, whereas in World Superbikes I will have a bike and team capable of winning races each and every race weekend.
"At the end of the day the very reason I go racing is to win."
