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, Laverty became a television commentator and occasional rider in Endurance events.Exciting weekend in store
EWC FIM Endurance, 20 April 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019 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. 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 Johan Stigefelt (born 17 March 1976) is a Swedes, Swedish former Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and racing team manager. Career Born in Anderstorp, Sweden, Stigefelt won the Swedish road racing national championship ...

, 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 Taylor Mackenzie is a former Grand Prix motorcycle racer based in Leicestershire, England. In late 2021, Mackenzie announced his intended retirement from racing at the end of the season. Shortly afterwards, it was announced that from the 202 ...

as team manager. 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 Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...

is a

World Superbike Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette-class road racing series based on heavily modified production motorcycles, also known as superbike racing. The championship was founded in ...

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. In 2005 and 2006 he raced for the Stobart Honda team in the

British Superbike The British Superbike Championship (BSB), currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, is the leading road racing superbike championship in the United Kingdom, and was once widely acknowledged as the p ...

Championship. In 2005 he was 10th overall with podiums at Knockhill and

Snetterton Snetterton is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England. The village is about east-northeast of Thetford and southwest of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of . The United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census recorded a parish population o ...

, his achievements earning him the title of 'Irish Motorcyclist of the Year' from Irish Racer magazine. 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 is a Japan, Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, All-terrain vehicle, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs ...

team. He beat teammate

Ian Lowry Ian Lowry (born in Moira, County Down, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish motorcycle racer. Biography Moving to racing A former chef, Lowry started off in the British Supersport class in 2006. He raced there for 3 seasons, finishing 9th i ...

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 The 2010 British Superbike season was the 23rd British Superbike Championship season. The season commenced on 5 April at Brands Hatch and ended on 10 October at Oulton Park after 26 races at twelve meetings held in England and Scotland. Due to th ...

. 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 Penz13.com is a German racing team established in 2009 that competes in international road racing on courses such as the Isle of Man TT, Macau Grand Prix, and the FIM Endurance World Championship. Its teams include the Penz13.com Franks Autowelt a ...

squad with Laverty replacing

Matthieu Lagrive Matthieu Lagrive (born 7 December 1979) is a French motorcycle racer. He races in the International Road Race Championship, aboard a Yamaha YZF-R6. He is a four times FIM Endurance World Champion. Lagrive was supposed to make his Isle of Man T ...

placed fourth in races at

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

(April 2019) and Slovakiaring (May 2019). 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.

Career statistics

British Superbike Championship

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

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

By class

Races by year

(

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

Supersport World Championship

Races by year

(

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

References

External links

* *
British Superbike official site profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laverty, Michael 1981 births Living people British motorcycle racers Motorcycle racers from Northern Ireland British Superbike Championship riders Supersport World Championship riders FIM Superstock 1000 Cup riders Gresini Racing MotoGP riders MotoGP World Championship riders