PARKALGAR HONDA’S MIguel Praia finished a career best ninth on 12^th round of the World Championship at Imola in Italy.

Oil on the track forced a two-part aggregate race and then with just three laps to go Championship leader Cal Crutchlow crashed out of the race, leaving Honda’s Kenan Sofuoglu to win. There are only 50-points and two races left in the Championship, meaning Laverty is assured of second place in the title race or better. The penultimate round of the series is at Magny Cours in France next Sunday, October 4^th.

Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “Eugene was so much better in the race than practice and qualifying, his head was in the right place and he got the reward – he cannot be beaten for second in the Championship and has a real chance at winning it. There are only two rounds left with two points in it; that just goes to show the pressure of fighting for a World Championship, today it was Crutchlow that made an unforced error and scored no points. It’s now a two round Championship and the final round is at our circuit in Portugal which gives us a lot of encouragement. It was a good job by Miguel to finish in ninth. Honestly, I have never seen him ride better than he is right now; he’s stepped up a level. Well done to the whole team, it’s been a fantastic effort from absolutely everyone.”

Race Result

1 54 Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR600RR 35'51.342 (156,936 kph)
2 50 Laverty E. (IRL) PARKALGAR HONDA CBR600RR 5.372
3 99 Foret F. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 6.450
4 23 Davies C. (GBR) Triumph Daytona 675 15.847
5 24 McCoy G. (AUS) Triumph Daytona 675 15.944
6 1 Pitt A. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 16.001
7 21 Fujiwara K. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX-6R 27.097
8 13 West A. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 27.835
9 117 Praia M. (POR) PARKALGAR HONDA CBR600RR 32.846
10 9 Dell'Omo D. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 33.315