THE STARTING GRID FOR THE TWO RACES TOMORROW WAS LINED UP BASED ON THE LAST QUALIFIER STANDINGS: BIAGGI SECOND, LAVERTY ON THE THIRD ROW.

Phillip Island, 25 February 2012 – The Superpole scheduled for this afternoon on the Australian track at Phillip Island was cancelled. During the first race of the national Superstock 600 championship, a serious accident in the second of twelve scheduled laps involved three riders, causing the race to be suspended. Sadly, seventeen year old Oscar McIntyre died from the injuries he sustained, while the other two riders are out of danger.

The starting order for the two Superbike races tomorrow was therefore decided by the standings from the morning qualifiers, which place Max Biaggi in the second block of the grid, while Eugene Laverty will start from eleventh place.

“Any statement seems superfluous – was the first reaction from Max – we are very saddened about what happened. We don’t know the details but suspending the session seemed like the logical thing to do. We’ll start from the second spot on the grid tomorrow and I don’t think Superpole would have made any great changes to the balance that came out of the test sessions. My goal is to get a good start and to try for two good results. It would seem that the work we’ve done the last few days will allow us to do that”.

Eugene Laverty’s physical condition has improved since his crash yesterday. The Northern Irish rider participated in the test sessions, coming in eleventh in the qualifiers which will also determine his spot on the grid.

“Today went much better. Yesterday was a complete disaster with the crash, which was maybe favoured by the condition of my hand. I was able to get in some good times this morning, thanks also to the Mobile Clinic. Unfortunately our work was interrupted by a serious accident. We’ll start from the third row and if I think about what happened yesterday I can only be happy about that”.