Tuesday Conversation: Eugene Laverty

Eugene Laverty produced some of the best rides of 2009 in his season-long battle with Cal Crutchlow for the World Supersport Championship. Riding the privateer Parkalgar Honda CBR600RR, the 23-year old Northern Irishman fought right up through the last round at Portimao where, despite winning at the team’s home track—his fourth win of the season—he came up seven points short of the title (but still 47 points ahead of the third-placed factory Honda of 2007 WSS champion Kenan Sofuoglu). We caught up with Eugene to talk about finishing ahead of the factory Hondas, his goals for next season, and the new Moto2 class.

RRX: Before the start of the season, did you think you’d be as close to the front as you were?
I didn’t think I could be, so it was a bit of a surprise to be leading the race at Phillip Island, because I did struggle. To be honest, I’d ridden the Yamaha at the end of last year, and easily got on with it the right way. It felt like a 250, whereas with the Honda I had to change my style a lot, so we struggled through testing. The final test we had was at Portimao, and it was only on the final dry session that we made the breakthrough and were able to get on this side of the top six. But even then I wasn’t capable of running in the front [going to] Phillip Island, but I led the race. I made the prediction that I could win in Qatar at the next round, and did just that.

How do you feel about the season overall?
It was a great season, the way I look at it. I was the only rider to score points at every round, so it was a fantastic season. The two crashes, at Donington and especially at Magny Cours, hurt my championship challenge, and unfortunately gave [Cal] Crutchlow the gap before going into the final round. Everybody makes mistakes in a fourteen-round championship; it was going to happen. I’m looking at next year as a chance at trying to be more consistent and be on the podium every time. At Monza I ended up finishing off the podium when I should have been on it, and also at few other rounds, but I need to be looking at being on the podium at all times.

You and Cal Crutchlow produced some of the best battles this year, but hadn’t you raced with Cal before?
In 2006 we raced together; we went for the British Supersport Championship. We were halfway through the season and it was looking like we were going to go head-to-head toward the end of it, and I broke some bones in my hand. That handed the championship to Crutchlow. That year I had more pace than Cal and I had a better package around me, but I didn’t capitalize on it at the time. This time in World Supersport it was tough because the shoe was on the other foot—he had the factory Yamaha package underneath him—so it was going to be tough to work with him. And he came through in the end and pipped me by seven points.

You beat the factory Hondas both in championship points and on the track—a great victory for a privateer team like Parkalgar.
Yeah, it shows the strength of the team to be honest, when a private Honda team comes in and beats Ten Kate after their seven-year domination. They’ve won the championship since 2002, so it shows the strength of the Parkalgar Honda team. I think Yamaha always knew that they were capable of beating them, but for another Honda team to come over and take it away from Ten Kate won’t bode well for them. But I know that they are going to bounce back, stronger than they were last year. To be honest, they sort of rested on their laurels this year because they had their strongest rider line-up for years; they had the world champion from last year and the world champion from the year before with Andrew Pitt and Kenan Sofuoglu [respectively]. So they were expecting it was going to be an easy run, and they found out after a few rounds that it wasn’t, so they were always on the back foot, but they are going to be tough to work with again next year.

You never seemed down on power to the factory bikes. How do you feel your Parkalgar CBR600RR compares with one of the Hannspree Ten Kate bikes? Where is it better or worse?
I’ve said all year that ours has been the strongest Honda out there. Sofuoglu’s been there from time to time, but I’ve always believed that our Honda was better than theirs. The electronics [package] in our bike especially is better. Suspension-wise, they switched halfway through the year, so we lost that edge on them, and Kenan was able to be there toward the end of the year. Also, just with the close-knit [nature] of the team, having a lot of the guys that I worked with from 2004-2006, it’s like almost the same, back in my old team again. When a team works well together, the results will come.

You spent two years in 250 GPs. What effect has that had on your supersport riding?
It taught me a lot of things. To ride the Yamaha, as I said, [having ridden] the 250 was a great skill, because you could just hop off the 250 and hop on the Yamaha and ride it in that way. The way a 250 needs to be ridden—and a lot of people don’t realize this—is like a superbike; you need to get it in there, stop it, stand it up, and gas it out. With the Yamaha being almost like a mini-superbike, I was able to ride it like that. But to hop onto the Honda, I had to go back to my roots again, almost like a 125 or how I rode supersport in 2005 when I first got on it, because that’s how this Honda needs to be ridden—with a lot of corner speed and quite a lot on the side of the tire. Kenan Sofuoglu gets the best out of the Honda, and I had to look at him at the start of the year and try to adapt my style to fit the Honda, because it’s not the best bike for me. It’s a better bike for Kenan with the way it needs to be ridden, but I’ve been able to adapt and win four races. Next year will be Kenan on the same package as well, and me also. With Lascorz on the Kawasaki again, it could be a three-horse race.

Your brother Michael raced in America this past year. Is racing pretty big in your family?
Yeah, [Michael] did some races for Celtic Racing, and we’ve also got another brother, John, who races in BSB for Kawasaki. It’s not often that you get three riders, all brothers, that are fast at that level. We can all win races in the British Championship, and get out there in a world championship. I think the only other family that can do that is the Haydens. A lot of times in other families you’ll have one strong brother and the others maybe lesser, but all three of us are pretty damn fast.

What do you think of the new Moto2 class?
Moto2 is appealing to me. At this point, they’ve got rid of the 250s, but I still believe that 250 was the best sort of racing, the most fun bike I had to ride. It was just unfortunate I never got to ride a good one to show what I was capable of on one. That’s all in the past now, as they’re going to be 600cc, which could also suit me now because I’ve ridden both 250 and also supersport strongly. So it’s something I’d like to go into in 2011; I’m definitely looking at it. I’ll let it pan out next year before I would think about moving. Because after I’ve already been there for two years, if I went back there a second time and it didn’t work out, then that would be the final time. You don’t get a third time for GPs, so when I go next time, everything has got to be right; the package has got to be good enough to let me win.

So it sounds like you’ll be staying with Parkalgar for next season. Is your goal to win the WSS championship?
Yeah, definitely. I’ve got to be the favorite for the championship, because I finished runner-up and the next guy to me was, I think, 47 points behind; it was Kenan Sofuoglu. So people are going to be expecting me to win from the moment we come out of the blocks, but it’s not going to be that easy. The only reason that Lascorz and Sofuoglu fell a good way behind us is because Lascorz had a tough start to the year on the Kawasaki, and Ten Kate had their problems, but at the end of the year [they were] going at it with Crutchlow and Me. So, next year we’ll have lost Crutchlow, but they’ll still be the three of us there.

You talked about Moto2 after that, in 2011. Is that the plan?
Yeah, that’s why I didn’t move up to Superbike next year, because I want to stay in Supersport for another year to see what happens in Moto2. Because things didn’t work out there [in GPs], I want to go back and show what I’m capable of as soon as possible, but I have to wait for my time, and hopefully 2011 can be it. If I don’t get a competitive opportunity in Moto2 then I can always move to Superbike.

With the ultimate goal being MotoGP?
Yeah, it’s got to be MotoGP. I think that the best route right now has got to be Moto2, but Ben Spies is going to prove the class of the superbike field next year, I believe, because he is going to step up and be right in there in MotoGP. So that will make the route from Superbike to MotoGP even stronger, so either way is going to be good. I just need to be winning in whatever class I go to, because that’s one thing I’ve learned in the past few seasons: there’s no point in changing classes and trying to start at the bottom and work your way up. It doesn’t work like that; people only look at the top of the time sheets. You’ve got to be winning wherever you go or else even being on the podium in your debut year, but you’ve got to be showing some potential. There’s no point in riding around the back and expecting you’ll work your way up, because unfortunately racing doesn’t work like that.