Voltcom Suzuki’s Eugene Laverty had a World Superbike race weekend to forget at Assen after two crashes meant he failed to bag any points – putting a dent in his championship ambitions.

It was, in his words ‘a terrible day’ and experienced problems with his bike, as in the second race he felt that he had no rear grip on his Suzuki. The crash in race one left the Irishman feeling ‘angry’ as he was on course to take home eleven points for his team. Laverty is usually a rider who is strong at the TT circuit, but he has left the track feeling disappointed.

With two difficult starts he rode hard to regain places in both races, recording the highest speed of the weekend of 291.7 during race one, but ultimately succumbed to the conditions, crashing out of both.

“We had a bad start in the first race but we had a strong pace; it was a clear eleven points so I’m really angry that I threw those away. The second race I just had a terrible feeling with the bike, after we went off the line I just had absolutely no rear grip and it was a crash waiting to happen,” said Laverty.

“With three laps to go I thought ‘I’ve stayed on this far’ and then suddenly I did a 180 and I was in the air. A terrible day, two non-finishes is a big disaster. This was a track where I felt we could be strong, Friday and Saturday we were, so to leave with no points is a big disappointment.”