Michael Laverty

Michael Laverty (born 7 June 1981) is an occasional motorcycle racer from Toomebridge, Northern Ireland. After participating in the 2017 season in the British Superbike Championship aboard a Yamaha YZF-R1, and the 2018 season on a Tyco BMW,^[1] Laverty became a television commentator and occasional rider in Endurance events.^[2][3]

Michael Laverty
Laverty, 2007 British Superbike Championship in Brands Hatch
Nationality	Northern Irish
Born	(1981-06-07) 7 June 1981 (age 43) Toomebridge, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Website	mlaverty.com
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2013–2015 Manufacturers PBM, ART, Aprilia Championships 0 2015 championship position NC (0 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 37 0 0 0 0 12

For 2021, Laverty established a young-riders' academy, to act as a competition stepping-stone, based on race-styled minibikes. Laverty also has Moto 3 machines available for occasional wildcard race entries.^[4][5]

In September 2021, Laverty announced live on BT Sport, the television provider he is contracted to as a motorcycle race pundit, that he was to establish a new race team for 2022 out of the former Petronas Moto3 team, run by Johan Stigefelt, which will be disbanded at the end of the 2021 season. The team for 2022 with British riders Scott Ogden and Josh Whatley will be known as Vision Track Honda after the title-sponsor, also active in BSB as Vision Track Ducati. Laverty will act as race-team principal, with Taylor Mackenzie as team manager.^{[6][7][8][9][10][11][12]}

He was the 2007 British Supersport Champion, and raced regularly in British Superbikes, plus occasional races in the World Supersport series and in American AMA Superbike Racing. His brother Eugene is a World Superbike rider and brother John was also a racer.

Career

British Superbike and Supersport World 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.^[13]

In 2005 and 2006 he raced for the Stobart Honda 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.^[14] In 2006 he was teammate 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 teammate 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.^[15]

In May 2010, Laverty took his and the Relentless Suzuki by TAS team's first Superbike victory, in race two of the third round of the 2010 British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park.

In the 2013 and 2014 seasons, Laverty competed in MotoGP on a CRT bike run by Paul Bird and his PBM Team.

The WEPOL Endurance Racing team, run by the German Penz13.com squad with Laverty replacing Matthieu Lagrive placed fourth in races at Le Mans (April 2019) and Slovakiaring (May 2019).^[16][17][18] They had to abandon their home race in Oschersleben after a technical failure and finished 5th in the overall standing of the 2018-2019 season. ^[19]

Career statistics

British Superbike Championship

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Bike	1		2		3			4		5		6			7			8			9			10		11		12			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
2010	Suzuki	BHI Ret	BHI 4	THR 10	THR 6	OUL 5	OUL 1		CAD 2	CAD 3	MAL 3	MAL 3	KNO 4	KNO C		SNE 6	SNE 5	SNE 3	BHGP 6	BHGP 4	BHGP Ret	CAD 4	CAD 4		CRO 2	CRO 1	SIL 3	SIL Ret	OUL 4	OUL 8	OUL 4	4th	6041	[20]
2011	Yamaha	BHI Ret	BHI 4	OUL 5	OUL 5	CRO 24	CRO Ret		THR 1	THR 7	KNO 6	KNO 3	SNE 4	SNE 5		OUL 6	OUL C		BHGP 8	BHGP 4	BHGP 4	CAD 1	CAD 2	CAD 3	DON 2	DON 14	SIL 2	SIL 4	BHGP 1	BHGP NC	BHGP 5	4th	6011	[21]
2012	Honda	BHI Ret	BHI C	THR 6	THR 13	OUL 6	OUL 12	OUL 7	SNE 2	SNE 1	KNO 3	KNO 1	OUL Ret	OUL 4	OUL 5	BHGP 4	BHGP 4		CAD 3	CAD 3		DON 3	DON 2		ASS 7	ASS 7	SIL 3	SIL 5	BHGP 10	BHGP 3	BHGP Ret	5th	5811	[22]

Notes

1.^  – Laverty qualified for "The Showdown" part of the BSB season, thus before the 11th round he was awarded 500 points plus the podium credits he had gained throughout the season. Podium credits are given to anyone finishing 1st, 2nd or 3rd, with 3,2 and 1 points awarded respectively.

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd
2013	MotoGP	PBM	Paul Bird Motorsport	18	0	0	0	0	3	25th
		ART
2014	MotoGP	PBM	Paul Bird Motorsport	18	0	0	0	0	9	24th
2015	MotoGP	Aprilia	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
Total				37	0	0	0	0	12

By class

Class	Seasons	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
MotoGP	2013–2015	2013 Qatar			37	0	0	0	0	12	0
Total	2013–2015				37	0	0	0	0	12	0

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pos	Pts
2013	MotoGP	PBM	QAT 17	AME 16	SPA 13	FRA 17	ITA 17	CAT Ret	NED 22	GER 16	USA Ret	INP 18	CZE 18	GBR 19	RSM 18						25th	3
		ART														ARA Ret	MAL Ret	AUS 18	JPN 19	VAL 17
2014	MotoGP	PBM	QAT 16	AME 16	ARG 18	SPA 16	FRA 16	ITA 16	CAT 17	NED 21	GER Ret	INP 14	CZE Ret	GBR 17	RSM 17	ARA 16	JPN 18	AUS 13	MAL 12	VAL 19	24th	9
2015	MotoGP	Aprilia	QAT	AME	ARG	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GER 20	INP	CZE	GBR	RSM	ARA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL	NC	0

Supersport World Championship

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Pos	Pts
2002	Honda	SPA	AUS	RSA	JPN	ITA	GBR	GER	SMR	GBR	GER	NED	ITA 15			34th	1
2003	Honda	SPA	AUS	JPN	ITA	GER 17	GBR Ret	SMR	GBR 21	NED 12	ITA	FRA				30th	4
2009	Honda	AUS	QAT	SPA	NED	ITA	RSA 11		SMR Ret	GBR 20	CZE 13	GER 18	ITA Ret	FRA Ret	POR 14	22nd	10
	Yamaha							USA 17

References

1. BSB: Laverty makes Tyco BMW return for 2018 crash.net, 17 October 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2019
2. Michael Laverty leaves British Superbike to focus on other projects bikeandrace.com, 11 January 2019 Retrieved 9 May 2019
3. Exciting weekend in store EWC FIM Endurance, 20 April 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019
4. Michael Laverty’s all-new riding academy is all about developing the British stars of tomorrow Motorcycle News, 14 May 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2021
5. MLav Academy Ltd Companies House Retrieved 19 May 2021
6. Ex-MotoGP racer Michael Laverty announces British Moto3 team Autosport, 17 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021
7. Michael Laverty: Former MotoGP rider sets up Moto3 team to help British riders BBC Sport, 17 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021
8. Michael Laverty launches new Moto3 team for 2022 Motorcycle News, 17 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021
9. Vision Track Honda signs Scott Ogden, Josh Whatley for all British 2022 Moto3 bid visordown.com, 18 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021
10. Mackenzie swaps racing for Moto3 management bikesportnews, 29 October 2021. Retrieved 13 November 2021
11. Taylor Mackenzie named as all-British VisionTrack Racing Moto3 team manager visordown, 1 November 2021. Retrieved 13 November 2021
12. Why ‘older brother’ Taylor Mackenzie is the ideal modern boss for new Moto3 team visordown, 7 November 2021. Retrieved 13 November 2021
13. "superbike.it - This website is for sale! - superbike Resources and Information". www.superbike.it. {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
14. "Michael Laverty takes major award". Archived from the original on 10 March 2007. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
15. "Laverty back at Relentless Suzuki". Insidebikes. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
16. Wepol Racing lead the way for Yamaha as Moto AIN Finish on SST Podium at Le Mans^{[permanent dead link‍]} Yamaha Racing, Retrieved 16 May 2019
17. WEPOL Endurance strengthens with Michael Laverty Speedweek.com (in German) 25 February 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2019
18. Slovakiaring results FIM EWC.com. Retrieved 16 May 2019
19. "Circuit Racing Endurance". FIM Live. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
20. "Round 12 Standings" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
21. "Round 12 Standings" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
22. "Round 7 – Standings" (PDF). MotorSportVision Racing. 8 July 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 March 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2012.

External links

• Michael Laverty at MotoGP.com
• Michael Laverty at WorldSBK.com
• Official website
• British Superbike official site profile
• Michael's Crash.net articles