Saturday in Aragon was opened with a session marked by cold temperatures and a cold asphalt, after the rain fell through the night. No improvement therefore from the times set yesterday. Eugene made good laps anyway, without risking too much, just to test the track ahead of the Superpole.
Come the race, it was a thrill to see the private Panigale by Go Eleven fight with the world champion, breaking hard and coming back with an extraordinary pace.
Unfortunately, however, Eugene’s race was decided by a contact with Jonathan Rea at the start: the right wing was damaged and riding the bike was very difficult. Eugene wanted to break away from the leading group and finish the race safely; when he saw that in any case his pace was still good he recovered positions, passing Van Der Mark, Lowes, and getting on Chaz’s tail on the last lap, trying to attack for the podium. The two touched and Eugene ended up on the ground – A real shame, but now everyone knows the potential of Eugene and his V4-R.
Eugene Laverty:
“I am so pleased to have this Ducati V4 R together with the Go Eleven team for this season. Today we were fighting for the podium and that gives us reason for optimism. It was a very difficult race for me after the contact with Rea at turn one broke my right wing and from that point the bike was very unpredictable and unrideable in places. Mid-race I decided that it was safer to drop backwards to ride alone in 6th position because the turbulence was too dangerous amongst the other riders. But at the end of the race I could see that the podium was possible so I took the risk to fight with them again. Unfortunately I crashed out of 4th position on the final lap but tomorrow we have another two opportunities. That’s the great thing about the World Superbike Championship.”