Michael Laverty | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2007 British Superbike Championship Brands Hatch
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Nationality | British | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born |
Toomebridge, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom |
7 June 1981 ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Current team | McAMS Yamaha | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bike number | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | mlaverty.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Michael Laverty (born 7 June 1981) is a motorcycle racer from Toomebridge, Northern Ireland. He is the 2007 British Supersport Champion, and has raced regularly in British Superbikes, plus occasional races in the World Supersport series and in American AMA Superbike Racing. His brothers Eugene and John are also racers. In 2017, he will be aboard a Yamaha YZF-R1 in the British Superbike Championship.
He raced in Supersport from 2001 to 2004, finishing in the championship top 5 in all but his rookie season, and done assorted World Supersport races.
In 2005 and 2006 he raced for Stobart Motorsport team in the British Superbike Championship. In 2005 he was 10th overall with podiums at Knockhill and Snetterton, his achievements earning him the title of 'Irish Motorcyclist of the Year' from Irish Racer magazine. In 2006 he was team-mate to Michael Rutter. Helped by a pair of 5th places at Knockhill in round 7 he came 7th overall, ahead of the more experienced Rutter.
For 2007, Michael moved back to the British Supersport Championship, with the successful Relentless Racing by TAS Suzuki team. He beat team-mate Ian Lowry to the title, and moved back up to BSB with the team for 2008. He took two fourth places early on in the season and finished 9th overall, but decided to leave the team for 2009.
For 2009 Michael competed in the USA riding in selected rounds of the AMA Superbike Championship with Celtic Racing. Michael finished in the top 10 at every round he competed in, with a 2nd position to Mat Mladin at the Road America round being his best result. He also competed in selected World Supersport rounds and joined the CRS team for the latter part of the 2009 season.
In January 2010, Laverty confirmed that he had re-signed with the Relentless Suzuki team to ride in the 2010 British Superbike Championship season.