Works Yamaha rider Eugene Laverty has lashed out at World Superbike organisers, saying the second race at Germany's Nurburgring should have been stopped much earlier because of the torrential downpour instead of waiting until two-thirds distance was completed and it could be called a result.

The race saw Leon Camier, Leon Haslam, Jonathan Rea, race leader Noriyuki Haga, James Toseland, Mark Aitchinson and Makoto Tamada all crash with only Rea and Haslam re-mounting while an already injured Michel Fabrizio simply pulled in.

"The second race was treacherous and on safety grounds I think it should have been stopped. I got the impression there was oil on the track after Rea came off his bike and re-joined so everyone was crashing out. We did well that all the riders are coming away without major injuries but I’m upset that we had to risk so much," said Laverty.

Championship leader Carlos Checa said: "Race two was one of the hardest races I’ve ever run. We were obliged to try to finish it of course but I was really suffering due to the sheer quantity of water and track conditions, and couldn’t even see as far as the next corner."

“It was truly dangerous to run race two There were puddles everywhere, visibility was terribly reduced and the situation got worse lap after lap. Other riders also had trouble in the turn where I slid. There was a virtual river running across the asphalt. It's a shame, I think they could have stopped the race earlier given the track conditions," said Camier.

Haslam added: "The conditions out there were really bad, and it probably should have been stopped earlier. I think I could have got on the podium today because my times at the end were really good, but it was definitely the right decision to stop the race.”

"There were big puddles everywhere and there were rivulets in many parts of the track. Even on the straights we were aquaplaning and it was pretty dangerous just trying to get round without crashing. I am a bit surprised that thirteen laps were completed before the red flag came out, but I was happy to have survived without crashing," said Fabrizio.

Marco Melandri said: "I feel it was an incorrect judgment of the rider’s safety to complete two thirds of the race in these conditions. I am very disappointed, in my opinion the race should have been stopped at the beginning for safety reasons."

Troy Corser was very vocal on the subject, saying: " Even on the inspection lap, puddles were beginning to form and so we all took the first lap of the race pretty cautiously. I didn’t make a bad start, but maybe took it a bit too cautiously going into turn. It would’ve been so easy to crash there and take a load of other riders out, so I erred on the side of caution.

"I lost some time because of that, but soon had to concentrate hard to avoid crashing in the variable conditions. Some parts of the track had a lot of water on them and some not so much, so you had to keep your wits about you all the time. There were deep puddles everywhere and many, many rivulets running across the track. Down at the bottom hairpin, there was even some mud or sand washed down from the hill and we were also aquaplaning in many areas.

"Toseland came past me pretty hard and then had a big off and that made me a bit more cautious. I didn’t want to crash and bend or break the plate in my arm because that would’ve been a disaster. By half race distance, the conditions were pretty dangerous and a few of us riders put our hands up to get the race stopped. But no notice was taken until about four laps later, when the race was red-flagged."