Aprilia’s Eugene Laverty did not fulfil his wish of securing two podium finishes in the World Superbikes races at Donington Park yesterday. The Irish rider had problems with his bike set-up all weekend, resulting with the rider only finishing in seventh as he dropped off the pace during the final laps of race one.

Laverty did improve and managed to make it on to the final step of the rostrum in race two. But the rider was left feeling frustrated with his bike and could not find the pace to compete with team-mate Sylvain Guintoli, who made it on to the podium twice, and Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes.

“There are definitely things we can improve on the bike. In race one it was really bad, but in race two it was better and it was a bike I could at least race. Certain tracks the bike works well, but a powerful bike on a tight track like Donington it does not really add up,” said Laverty, speaking to bikesportnews.com.

“Compared with the other guys I could not drive forward and I was sitting on the spot and they were going away, and I was losing time in spots where I shouldn’t loose time and I was trying to accelerate from the corner and I couldn’t move forward, and that was frustrating. But next time we test we have to think about this and see what we can improve on, for circuits like Donington.”

In the final Superbike race of the day Laverty did progress and was able to out battle GoldBet BMW’s Marco Melandri to take the third step on the podium, and in doing so achieved his best Superbike result of his career at the Leicestershire track.

“The first race was not good, as I finished in seventh, and the best I could have realistically done was fifth so I didn’t loose so many points. It was important for me to get a podium in race two, as I needed those points, and I could not afford to slip any further away, and it is on a circuit I have never really had good results at before so getting a podium I am very happy with that.

“It was nice because Marco is one of the hardest guys to beat out there and it is nice to have beaten him a few times in a row now. I got the upper hand over him and the fact he likes to do a little move on me to upset me a little bit instead of a clean one, so it is nice to be standing on the rostrum instead of him."