Although the recent points drought continued for the Penrith-based PBM MotoGP Team at round 13 of the MotoGP World Championship at Misano, a battling performance by Michael Laverty lifted spirits with a hard earned 18th place.

Following the disappointment of their home Grand Prix at Silverstone two weeks ago, both Colombian rider Yonny Hernandez and Ulsterman Michael Laverty were looking to improve although both riders struggled during the free practice sessions, barely managing to squeeze into the top 20 throughout.

Qualifying saw Laverty claim tenth with Hernandez one place behind going into the race and both had high hopes of improving.

Laverty, from Toome in County Antrim, on the Rapid Solicitors and Minxflix.com-sponsored PBM machine got the better start of the two PBM riders and was followed by Hernandez, from Medelln, on the Rapid Solicitors and Minxflix.com-sponsored Aprilia ART in the lower leaderboard places.

After five laps, Laverty had climbed to 17th as he battled with some of the top CRT riders but a technical problem slowed Hernandez and he retired from 21st position on lap 10. Laverty battled on gamely and had a good dice with Randy de Puniet to come home in a solid 18th place but just missing out on the all-important top 15 place for points.

The result saw Michael score his 11th top 20 placing of the season on the evolutionary machine but has yet to add to the points scored for his superb 13th place in Jerez earlier in the season. For Hernandez, he has now gone five races without scoring since picking up a 15th place finish at Laguna Seca in July.

Despite the setback, Hernandez remains in 20th overall in the MotoGP World Championship standings with Laverty holding 24th in his debut season. In the Claiming Rules Teams (CRT) class, Hernandez is seventh with Laverty in tenth whereas PBM occupy eighth in the Constructors Championship and 12th in the Teams Championship in their debut season with their brand new British-built machine.

Following discussions with various parties after the race in Misano, it was agreed that Yonny Hernandez would be released from his PBM contract with immediate effect to assist the Pramac Ducati team as replacement rider for the injured Ben Spies. As such PBM will be announcing a replacement rider in due course and prior to the next MotoGP at Aragon over the weekend of 27/29 September.Michael Laverty: "The Misano race was a step forward for us as we had been working with a heavier fuel load this weekend so the early laps of the race were stronger for me. After Randy de Puniet passed me I ran on at turn one and lost a couple of seconds on him. I was having issues with my rear brake but I worked hard over the second part of the race to get back to him only to make a few mistakes and lose any opportunity to try and make a pass."

Yonny Hernandez: "The bike felt difficult with a full fuel load and I overshot a corner and lost a lot of places early on. It was OK then for a while but I felt a strange feeling with the bike with the gears so I decided to pull in rather than damage it or maybe even crash out. I'd like to say a big thanks to the team, especially my mechanics, I really appreciate their help and the opportunity they gave me, I wish them and the PBM team well for the future."

Phil Borley, Technical Director: "Michael was a lot closer in the race than recently but we are still a long way off where we need to be with the bike. We have a few more ideas and we need to keep improving for the next race. Yonny had a technical issue which as it turned out wasn't serious and it's unfortunate that he retired on his last race for us. The team would like to express our thanks for the work Yonny has done this year and we wish him success for the remainder of the season."

Round 14 of the MotoGP World Championship takes place on September 28/29 at Aragon