Laverty pushes over the line, Cudlin sorry to Lorenzo

Michael Laverty pushed his ART across the finish line of Sunday's Japanese MotoGP, after running out of fuel.

The PBM rider, classified 19th and the final rider not to be lapped, said: "Starting a race with only 18 laps under my belt in the dry was always going to make things difficult. I got gradually faster throughout the race as I figured the circuit out and managed to catch back up to Petrucci.

"I began to run out of fuel on the penultimate lap and had to nurse it home so I wasn't able to make a pass. I ran dry on the home straight and had to push it the final 100 metres. I enjoyed Japan and the Motegi circuit although it was a little bit frustrating with the lack of track time this weekend meaning we didn't reach our true potential."

Team-mate Damian Cudlin inadvertently held up race winner Jorge Lorenzo in the latter stages on his way to 21st out of the 23 finishers.

"I got into a good rhythm and was riding my own race and I apologise if I held Jorge up but the flags were not clear to me," said the Australian. "I'd like to thank the team for their hard work as it has been a difficult couple of rounds but I am happy to record another finish."