A double race win to Yamaha’s Eugene Laverty marked round four of the World Superbike Championships at Monza, in Italy, at the weekend.

With back-to-back race wins, Laverty joined a hallowed circle of World Superbike greats with his remarkable double victory at Monza, just four rounds into his first season of superbike world championship racing.

Spain’s Carlos Checa maintained his grip on the top spot in the series standings, however, despite only finishing ninth and 10th at Monza, but the day belonged to Laverty.

The Irishman enjoyed arguably the finest day of his career by defying pre-race predictions to take the fight to Italian legend Max Biaggi in race one and out-perform the defending champion, the Irishman not putting a wheel wrong as he swept to a relatively comfortable maiden victory.

His win in race two came in very different circumstances, Laverty being delayed early on and being left down in ninth position at the end of the opening lap. However, aided by Biaggi’s costly penalty, Laverty worked his way back into contention to trail Yamaha team-mate Marco Melandri into the final lap.

Though it would take Melandri to run wide around the last bend for Laverty to squeeze past, the win nonetheless sees him become one of only a small group of riders to do the double, while even fewer have managed it in their first season of WSBK racing.

“I can’t believe I got a double victory today,” he said. “I came here aiming for a podium and now I’m coming away with two incredible race wins. It’s fantastic!

“That [race one] was a great race, definitely not one of the easiest but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I just kept pushing to the top and my first win couldn’t have come at a better place.

“I didn’t get off to a good start in the second race. I had to avoid a collision on the first corner, causing me to lose time. I also struggled a little with the tyres in the hot conditions. When it came to the last few laps, I couldn’t believe my luck that it was just me and Marco in the lead. This double victory was particularly special to me, being the team’s home track.”

Laverty’s double victory propels him from ninth to fifth in the overall standings, just four points adrift of Jonathan Rea in fourth position.

RESULTS:

2011 World Superbike Championship rider standings (After round 4 of 13, previous round position in brackets)

1.(1) Carlos Checa Althea Ducati 145 points
2.(3) Marco Melandri Yamaha SBK118
3.(2) Max Biaggi Aprilia Alitalia117
4.(4) Jonathan Rea Castrol Honda 89
5.(9) Eugene Laverty Yamaha SBK85
6.(5) Leon Haslam BMW Motorrad 84
7.(8) Michel Fabrizio Suzuki Alstare 74
8.(6) Leon Camier Aprilia Alitalia 58
9.(7) Jakub Smrz Effenbert-Liberty Ducati 55
10.(10) Noriyuki Haga PATA Aprilia 47
11.(12) Troy Corser BMW Motorrad 46
12.(15) Ayrton Badovini BMW Italia 35
13.(12) Tom Sykes Kawasaki RTS 34
14.(11) Joan Lascorz Kawasaki Racing 33
15.(14) Ruben Xaus Castrol Honda 31
16.(16) Sylvain Guintoli Effenbert-Liberty Ducati 29
17.(17) Roberto Rolfo Pedercini Kawasaki 15
18.(18) Mark Aitchison Pedercini Kawasaki 9
19.(19) Maxime Berger Supersonic Ducati 5
20.(20) Barry Veneman BMW Italia 3
21.(21) Josh Waters Yoshimura Suzuki 3
22.(22) James Toseland BMW Italia 2
23.(23) Bryan Staring Pedercini Kawasaki 1
24.(-) Fabrizio Lai Echo CRS Honda 1

RACE ONE:

1. Eugene Laverty IRL Yamaha YZF R1 31mins 09.584secs
2. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 +1.575s
3. Leon Haslam GBR BMW Motorrad S1000RR +3.078s
4. Marco Melandri ITA Yamaha YZF R1 +3.255s
5. Michel Fabrizio ITA Suzuki Alstare GSX-R1000 +11.812s
6. Jonathan Rea GBR Castrol Honda CBR1000RR +12.371s
7. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR +13.280s
8. Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 +17.419s
9. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1098R +17.569s
10. Jakub Smrz CZE Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R +18.420s
11. Ayrton Badovini ITA BMW Italia S1000RR +20.031s
12. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R +20.405s
13. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki RTS ZX-10R +26.693s
14. Maxime Berger FRA Supersonic Ducati 1098R +38.429s
15. Ruben Xaus ESP Castrol Honda CBR1000RR +40.164s
16. Noriyuki Haga JPN PATA Aprilia RSV-4 +49.081s
17. Mark Aitchison AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +57.930s
18. Fabrizio Lai ITA Echo CRS Honda CBR1000RR +1min 03.039s

Not Classified

19. Joan Lascorz ESP Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 9 laps completed
20. Roberto Rolfo ITA Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 6 laps completed

Did Not Start

James Toseland GBR BMW Italia S1000RR
Chris Vermeulen AUS Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R

RACE TWO:

1. Eugene Laverty IRL Yamaha YZF R1 31mins 19.948secs
2. Marco Melandri ITA Yamaha YZF R1 +0.327s
3. Michel Fabrizio ITA Suzuki Alstare GSX-R1000 +2.466s
4. Noriyuki Haga JPN PATA Aprilia RSV-4 +2.583s
5. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR +4.202s
6. Ayrton Badovini ITA BMW Italia S1000RR +10.865s
7. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R +11.038s
8. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 +18.724s
9. Joan Lascorz ESP Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R +20.093
10. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1098R +20.376s
11. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki RTS ZX-10R +21.111s
12. Ruben Xaus ESP Castrol Honda CBR1000RR +28.608s
13. Roberto Rolfo ITA Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +33.459s
14. Mark Aitchison AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +42.810s
15. Fabrizio Lai ITA Echo CRS Honda CBR1000RR +55.759s

Not Classified

16. Maxime Berger FRA Supersonic Ducati 1098R 13 laps completed
17. Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 7 laps completed
18. Leon Haslam GBR BMW Motorrad S1000RR 0 laps completed
19. Jonathan Rea GBR Castrol Honda CBR1000RR 0 laps completed
20. Jakub Smrz CZE Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R 0 laps completed

Did Not Start

James Toseland GBR BMW Italia S1000RR
Chris Vermeulen AUS Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R

Photo courtesy Yamaha