John Laverty

John Laverty (born 6 July 1982) is a former Northern Irish motorcycle racer from Toomebridge, Northern Ireland . He was champion of the Cup class of the British Superbike Championship in 2008. His older brother Michael and younger brother Eugene are both also notable racers.

For the US Navy Medal of Honor recipient, see John Lafferty.

John Laverty
John Laverty riding the Buildbase Kawasaki during the 2009 BSB championship at Snetterton
NationalityIrish
Born (1982-07-06) 6 July 1982
Toomebridge, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Personal life

In his youth he was a keen tennis player. His sporting heroes are George Best and John McEnroe[1] He also enjoys Trials Riding and Golf[2]

Early career

Laverty raced motocross in his youth, switching to circuit racing for the 1999 Aprillia Challenge UK. The early part of his career was affected by injuries, however he scored a single European Superstock podium at Imola in 2003 and finished 7th overall in 2004. He first entered the British Superbike Championship in 2005, but pulled out when the bike proved uncompetitive. He spent the next 2½ years in British Superstock, taking over a ride midseason (and ultimately earning long-term backing from the team's sponsor Buildbase). He came close to a first win at Donington 2005 and Oulton Park 2006, and it finally came at Brands Hatch in 2007. he was 5th overall in the series in 2006 and 4th overall in 2007.

British Superstock/Superbike Cup

For 2008 Laverty was entered by the Northwest 200 Ducati team into the British Superstock Championship, which allows few modifications to basic road bikes. Three days before the season started, the team discovered that the bike was ineligible. They instead entered him into the British Superbike Cup, as a team-mate to the veteran Michael Rutter. Laverty qualified 9th overall for the season opener, and lead the Cup class throughout, winning it comfortably in the end, taking 11 class wins and 9 further podiums[3] despite missing the Knockhill round due to injury.[4] He finished 17th overall, with a best overall result of 8th, although fellow Cup entrant Gary Mason outpointed him in the main class due to a strong finish He finished 2008 by contesting the Kings of Wanneroo meeting in Perth, Australia, which for 2008 was run to Superstock regulations[5]

British Superbike Championship

For 2009 he switched to the Hawk Kawasaki team, taking Buildbase as title sponsor.[6] After a slow start to the season in the first event, at Oulton Park Laverty narrowly escaped serious injury after he went on the grass to overtake and subsequently fell casing a red flag, he was unable to make race 2 due to a concussion.[7] Laverty earned his best finish of the year at Mallory Park finishing 4th in race 2[8]

2010

Laverty remained with Buildbase for 2010, scoring his first podium finish at Oulton Park. The rest of the year saw mid-pack finishes, ending the season in 8th place with 190 points[9]

2011

The 2011 season saw John ride again for Buildbase but this time astride the BMW S1000RR. The season did not start well as technical issues prevailed. But as the season continued the team worked hard to resolve these issues[9] At the second visit to Oulton Park mid season towards the end of Free Practice 1 John suffered a serious crash on the start-finish straight leaving him with serious injuries.[10] This unfortunately ended his 2011 season.

2012

The 2012 season promises to be an exciting challenge for John as he gets to sit astride an Aprilia RSV4 Superbike for the first time with the Spiltlath Redmond Team.

Career statistics

Stats correct as of 9 July 2012

British Superbike Championship
Year Class Bike THR OUL BHGP DON SNE MAL OUL KNO CAD CRO SIL BHI Pos Pts Ref
R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2
2008 BSB Ducati 12 11 20 14 16 13 16 16 16 16 10 14 10 13 14 15 16 16 13 21 13 8 17th 49 [11]
Year Class Bike BHI OUL DON THR SNE KNO MAL BHGP CAD CRO SIL OUL Pos Pts Ref
R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R3
2009 BSB Kawasaki 12 13 Ret DNS 9 9 8 11 13 5 Ret Ret Ret 4 7 13 5 9 5 13 10 6 Ret 10 6 Ret 10th 130.5 [12]
Year Class Bike BHI
 THR
 OUL
 CAD
 MAL
 KNO
 SNE
 BHGP
 CAD
 CRO
 SIL
 OUL
 Pos Pts Ref
R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R3
2010 BSB Kawasaki 10 7 7 8 3 5 6 5 8 6 6 C 12 10 5 9 Ret 9 Ret 12 8 13 Ret 9 9 6 8 8th 190 [13]
Year Class Bike BHI
 OUL
 CRO
 THR
 KNO
 SNE
 OUL
 BHGP
 CAD
 DON
 SIL
 BHGP
 Pos Pts Ref
R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R3
2011 BSB BMW Ret DNS DNS DNS 13 21 20 13 18 23 22 DNS DNS C 32nd 6 [9]
Year Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pos Pts Ref
R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2
2012 Aprilia BHI
21		 BHI
C		 THR
25		 THR
26		 OUL
20		 OUL
24		 OUL
21		 SNE
18		 SNE
18		 KNO
18		 KNO
Ret		 OUL
Ret		 OUL
Ret		 OUL
22		 BHGP BHGP CAD CAD DON DON ASS ASS SIL SIL BHGP BHGP BHGP NC* 0* [14]

References
  1. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/columnists/john-laverty/john-laverty-federer-could-have-lost-a-lot-more-than-a-title-13899231.html Federer could have lost a lot more than a title
  2. http://www.johnlaverty.com/about/
  3. Top ten BSB riders: John Laverty | BSB News | Nov 2008 | Crash.Net
  4. Knockhill British Superbikes: Shane Byrne tops FP1; John Laverty out – | Motorcycle Sport | WSB | BSB | MotoGP | TT & Road races | MCN
  5. John Laverty fastest after day one of Kings of Wanneroo – | Motorcycle Sport | WSB | BSB | MotoGP | TT & Road races | MCN
  6. Cup winner Laverty joins Hawk | BSB News | Dec 2008 | Crash.Net
  7. http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/05052009/23/laverty-escapes-injury-oulton-accident.html
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 26 July 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 9 April 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. http://www.crash.net/british+superbikes/news/171274/1/john_laverty_recovering_from_multiple_injuries.html
  11. round-12-brandshatch-race Archived 24 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  12. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 January 2010. Retrieved 14 April 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. "Round 7 – Standings" (PDF). MotorSportVision Racing. 8 July 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 March 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
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