World Supersport Championship 2008-2010
Plans for him to make his World Superbike debut later that year were scrapped when Chris Walker joined the team full-time, but he instead joined the factory Yamaha team in World Supersport as a temporary replacement for the injured Fabien Foret. Despite riding injured following a crash at the 2008 Indianapolis motorcycle Grand Prix a week earlier, he moved up from an early 7th to battle championship leader Andrew Pitt and team-mate Broc Parkes for 2nd. Parkes got the better of him, but he finished on the podium after surviving contact with Pitt which eliminated the Honda rider. He decided before this race to end his 250cc season, and focus on a fulltime WSS ride for 2009.
The young Irish man signed with the Parkalgar Honda World Supersport team for the 2009 season. On March 14, 2009 Laverty won his first Supersport World Championship race at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar, narrowly beating Ten Kate Racing's Andrew Pitt to the chequered flag. His win was also the first for the Parkalgar Honda team. He stacked up three more wins and four second places to finish as series runner-up behind Yamaha rider Cal Crutchlow - ending Ten Kate's run of being the top Honda team for many years.
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