Laverty and Rea on Portimao podium

Northern Ireland pair Eugene Laverty and Jonathan Rea grabbed podium places in the final race of the Superbike season at Portimao in Portugal.

Laverty finished in second spot, behind Yamaha teammate Marco Melandri, and Rea took third in a tight race. 1.363 seconds was all that separated the three.

The result means that Laverty ends up in joint third place overall, on 303 points, along with Max Biaggi of Aprilia. Rea finished in ninth place on 170 points.

Spaniard Carlo Checa of Ducati took top place with a commanding 505 points, 110 points clear of Melandri on 395.