Tyco BMW’s Michael Laverty secured his first podium of the year during the opening MCE British Superbike race at Assen, with a third place finish.

The Wales-based rider was able to hold off PBM Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne and Moto Rapido Ducati’s John Hopkins to snatch the final step on the rostrum. With sixteen points from race-one and seven points from the last race of the day in the Netherlands, Laverty has propelled himself up to fourth in the overall standings.

The Northern Irishman has an eight point advantage over team-mate, Tommy Bridewell with the pair both in with a shout of challenging for the title. But for Laverty the top three in the series is his target and he is going to push on with the aim of getting back on to the podium at Silverstone.

“It was a good first race for me; we made a bit of a gamble and went for the harder rear tyre while everyone else seemed to be on the soft. We knew we would struggle to hang on in the early laps but towards the end of the race it started to come back,” said Laverty.

“It was a bit of a battle, especially on the last lap with Shakey making the move on the last corner, but he went a bit wide and I took it back. It’s nice to get my first podium of the season just as the Showdown starts and it’s all down to the Tyco BMW team.

“I was too careful in the first few laps of race two and I lost a lot of ground, I started to make a move through and I got a false neutral, went in to the gravel and lost about 10 places so I had to start all over again. In these circumstances where Brookes is still pulling out we are a bit unfortunate but we will come back at Silverstone strong.

“Third place in the championship is my target, we have still got five races to try to pull back some points, I think we can come back even stronger from here.”