Tyco BMW's Michael Laverty has grabbed the final spot in the Showdown after a run of consistent points during the MCE British Superbike triple-header at Oulton Park.
The Wales-based S1000RR man wasn't completely happy with his performance and felt that he struggled on his bike, and wasn't really comfortable trying to fight for podiums. But he stayed on his bike to clinch a top six position.
"It was tough this weekend and I knew what I had to do, but it wasn't pretty but it was effective, and I got the job done. But I didn't feel at home on the bike this weekend and we kind of struggled. I done what I had to do and I am now in the Showdown, but there is something a miss for me on the bike, and I cant quite put my finger on it," said Laverty, speaking to bikesportnews.com at the circuit.
His Tyco BMW team are the only outfit that have two bikes in the Showdown, and for a team which started this year with new models Laverty is pleased with what they have achieved. But they are still developing the BMW and Laverty is looking forward to trying out a new swing arm and linkages going into the next round at Assen.
"It is a big achievement for the team to have two bikes and we are the only team to have two bikes in the Showdown, and it is still our development year and we have done a good job and we are happy - but it is hard as a racer when you are not fighting at the front and Knockhill was the only place I thought I could have won a race. I am still chasing something with the bike. But Assen and Silverstone I am looking forward to those tracks and I will be a lot stronger than I was today.
"We will have some upgrades coming for Assen and that will give us a step forward and we will have a new swing arm and linkage for the rear of the bike. But we still need to work on the electronics and we test the swing arm and hopefully it is a step forward for us."
Tyco BMW Team Manager Philip Neill said: "It is not the most adventurous of goals to get in the Showdown but it was for us. We have had a couple of difficult seasons prior to this one, and it was a big move this year to BMW and their objective was to get their riders in the Showdown and fair play we scored points consistently and we achieved that goal.
"We had an engine problem this weekend which was something minor, but other than that the S1000RR has been reliable for us and the potential for the rest of the year is great. Tommy has been one of the only
riders who has been able to challenge the two leading riders, and he had a good chance of battling for the race win today, but he had a technical problem in race one and then he crashed in race two and then we finished the weekend with a mature podium.
"Tommy earned major respect in the last race today, and he wasn't fit to ride comfortably, but he was fit to take part and it wasn't dangerous. But he went without painkillers and he still rode it and he earned a lot of points today, so massive respect to him."
