Michael Laverty - Photo Credit: Honda Racing
Samsung Honda had a weekend to forget at Oulton Park with Jon Kirkham suffering a heavy crash while Michael Laverty's early season struggles continued. Kirkham was running fifth midway through race one when he crashed heavily just before Water Tower, suffering a concussion.
The Derby rider admitted that he didn't have any memory of the accident and was frustrated at missing Monday's races, losing ground in the championship as a result.
“I can’t really remember too much about the crash to be honest; I have seen the footage and all I can remember was just before I got a bit of a slide on at the chicane and knew I had to push as Haga was there. I think maybe I was just pushing too hard or something as it is unlike me to crash in a race. It was a shame as I think we could have made up some good points this weekend.”
Teammate Laverty matched his best result of the season with sixth in the opening race but that was as good as it got and the Ulsterman knows the team need to improve before Snetterton.
“It has been a tough weekend for us. In the free practice sessions we improved and I felt more comfortable and in the race we came from 29th to sixth with the restart which wasn't a bad result. We then moved forward again in warm up and I thought we could have the pace to challenge for a podium finish. The rain then came down and to be honest I am normally able to challenge in those conditions but everyone was pushing hard and we just couldn't match them. It was then a fourth row start for the third race and that was always going to be tough. The only way to be up challenging was if I got dragged along but it just didn't happen like that. We have had a good debrief though and we know where we need to make improvements for the next time we are here, because it has only been this track that we have had these issues.”
Team Manager Havier Beltran didn't think the team did themselves justice over the weekend at Oulton Park and has challenged them to do better in Norfolk three weeks from now.
“It has been a disappointing weekend for the Samsung Honda team and the results haven't shown what we are capable of achieving. We have some work to do before Snetterton but the team will work hard ready for Snetterton. It was a big shame for Jon to have had the big crash yesterday that left him sidelined for the remainder of the weekend. For Michael the restart in the opening race helped him move from 29th to sixth which was a determined ride. In the second race Michael was able to run a certain pace and after that could not challenge any further and he had a similar issue in race three. We know that we are all capable of more though so we will be aiming higher at Snetterton.”
