The sandy winds and blazing sun in the desert of Qatar were no deterrent for Eugene Laverty as he claimed his first World Supersport win.  On a day where the temperature was hot and the competition even hotter, Laverty pulled through.

The first row at the start of the race, consisting of Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda), Andrew Pitt, Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha World Supersport) and Kenan Sufuoglu (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda) was a reflection of the top four riders at the end.  

Crutchlow led the pack going into the first turn, but Laverty quickly stole the lead.  Laverty and Crutchlow, followed by Pitt and Sufuoglu formed a single-file line around every turn, leaning in rhythm to the music of their machines.  Pitt, sitting in third place, fell out of line to peek down the side of Crutchlow, but couldn’t make his move.  In the second lap, Pitt got his chance, and made it into the lead; just a few turns later Crutchlow responded taking back his spot in second.  Laverty began to pull away from the pack slightly, but the Yamaha made up the gap coming close to contact with the Parkalgar Honda.  Pitt made another move on Crutchlow, sneaking through the inside into second, but Crutchlow reacted, trying to keep his position, almost taking himself out of the race.

 

In the midst of the battle between first and second, forth place Sufuoglu ran into the back of Crutchlow, nearly causing a catastrophic incident.  Moments later, Laverty went wide and Pitt took the lead.  In the same lap, Sifuoglu managed to get around Crutchlow for third place.  Not satisfied with second place, Pitt peered into the inside of the next turn, but Laverty didn’t give him the option.  On the straight away the men held nothing back, trying to get the most speed out of their machines, pushing, hoping to gain the advantage.  

The end of the tenth lap saw Pitt cross the line first, Sufuoglu owned second, Lafferty held on to third, and Crutchlow struggled in forth.  With determination, Sufuoglu took first and pulled away from the group momentarily.  Coming into the last turn in lap 11 Sufuoglu looked over his shoulder to see who was behind him, costing him precious time, because on the straight his teammate overtook him, but only held onto it for a second as Laverty took them both on the outside.  

With 5 laps to go, the Yamaha was struggling to join the three Honda’s at the front of the race.  Pitt hovered over Laverty, waiting for the chance to make his move.  Sofuoglu took advantage of Pitt’s focus on the lead, passing him for second.  Crutchlow pushed and caught up to the Hondas, making the final two laps a four way battle for the win.  On the straight of the last lap, Pitt made his move, but couldn’t quite get past Laverty.  Going into turn 5 of the last lap Pitt took the inside but was unsuccessful.  Just a few turns later, Laverty lost some speed, giving up the lead to Pitt.  With three corners to go, Laverty sat in second place and Crutchlow went onto the turf, but held onto third place.  On the last straight, the four men had their throttle twisted to near breaking.  Laverty had a little more and bypassed Pitt for the win.

The final result of the race is, Laverty in First, Pitt in Second, Crutchlow in third and Sofuoglu in forth.   Eugene Laverty comes out on top in one of the most intense races so far this season in World Supersport.  Eugene has shown that he means business, by beating two previous World Champions and marking his first Supersport win he has shown that this is the beginning of a great season.