Laverty takes third win, first with Aprilia
After a tense battle in the second race at Portimao, Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) took his first victory of the 2012 season, and his first on an Aprilia machine, as he held off the impressive late charge of Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) by only 0.162 seconds.
Eugene became the ninth rider in 2012 to win a race. Laverty had been a clear leader but in the final laps Rea put in a real charge at the undulating Portuguese circuit. Over three seconds behind the race winner, Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) was third and now carries a more than useful lead into the final round in France.
His new main championship rival Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) was forced out with an engine problem in the early laps of race two and no-scored. Max now has 347 points to Sykes' 316.5. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) missed the second race after suffering a badly bruised kidney in his first race crash.
