Parkalgar Honda's Eugene Laverty has said that he will be aiming to knock World Supersport series leader Cal Crutchlow down a peg this weekend's Imola meeting in Italy.

The Yamaha man curently has a 17-point lead over Laverty with three races left to go and the Irishman reckons Imola is an important place to close that gap as he went so well there in mid-season testing.

“Imola is a very important round. We tested at the circuit in July and had the same pace as Crutchlow and now we need to beat him. It is time to knock Crutchlow down a peg and get back into the title fight for the last two rounds," said the Irishman.