MotoGP: Michael Laverty fails to finish at Laguna Seca

Michael Laverty failed to finish Sunday's latest round of the MotoGP championship at Laguna Seca in the United States.

The Paul Bird Motorsport rider from Toomebridge endured a difficult weekend and qualified back in 20th position on the grid.

The CRT series rider made up early ground to move up to 15th place but crashed out of the race on lap two.

Spaniard Marc Marquez won the race from Stefan Bradl and Valentino Rossi.

Alvaro Bautista, Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo completed the top six.

Marquez leads the championship on 163 points, with Pedrosa second on 147, Lorenzo third with 137 and Rossi fourth with 117.

"It's a long way to come to Laguna Seca for only one racing lap," said Laverty.

"We had improved our set-up with every session throughout the weekend and I felt my best on track during morning warm up.

"I got a really good start and had a good battle with Hector Barbera on the opening lap. As I entered turn two on the second lap the front just simply washed out, it definitely caught me off guard as I wasn't struggling to stop, everything felt quite settled on entry but down I went nonetheless.

"We have the summer break now before Indy so it gives us a good chance to evaluate all the work done so far this season and make a plan to improve over the second half of the season."

The championship now takes a four-week break, with the next round being held at Indianapolis on 18 August.