Parkalgar Honda's Eugene Laverty reckons that Yamaha man Fabien Foret messed up both their chances of catching Cal Crutchlow in the final stages of yesterday's World Supersport race, depsite the Irishman signalling for Foret to get in behind him.

Laverty, who finished fourth in the race behind Crutchlow's team-mate Foret and Kawasaki's Joan Lascorz, was hassled by attempted passes by Foret at almost every corner during the closing stages and was then forced wide by Lascorz mistake on the final lap.

Despite Laverty signalling to Foret to tuck in behind him and let the Irishman tow them back up to Crutchlow, the Frenchman was still trying to get past at every opportunity which slowed the pair down and allowed Lascorz to catch up.

 “I wasn’t happy at the end of the race because on the last lap I thought I could have caught and passed the pair in front of me. I did all the hard work and then on the last corner was sucked in and ran wide," said the youngster.

"I simply didn’t have the confidence in my front tyre to brake harder and take the inside line – it had folded a couple of times on me in the race. With hindsight I may have used a different front tyre – the same as the riders around me – but that is down to experience at this circuit.

"It was nice to go faster in the race than qualifying and that was helped by some changes to my chassis overnight. Foret allowed Cal to get away by trying to win the race on every lap. Still, I am 18-points behind Cal in the Championship and it is not even half-way yet so there is a lot more to come and the team is really stepping up its game.”