Extending a successful roadracing partnership, Orient Express Racing and Celtic Racing have teamed up to compete in the American Superbike class with 2007 British Supersport Champion Michael Laverty.

Orient Express, a 2009 AMA Pro Racing contingency sponsor which has specialized in developing and distributing a wide range of sportbike performance products for 36 years, is a championship-winning force in professional drag racing and the title sponsor of AMA Dragbike’s Pro Street class.

On the partnership, Orient Express proprietor Skip Dowling, says, “We’re excited to continue our involvement in roadracing and proud to be affiliated once again with Celtic Racing as it brings new, international faces to the U.S. Superbike scene. We welcome Michael Laverty to the World Center of Racing and wish him all the best in his American adventure.”

Celtic Racing’s main mission is bringing foreign riders to America’s roadracing stage. The team helped launch the successful U.S. career of former FIM Grand Prix racer and Welshman Chaz Davies. It has also supported Kenny Noyes and Alastair Seeley in their American debuts, worked with Florida-based roadracing veteran Michael Barnes and continues to groom promising American teenager P.J. Jacobsen on both sides of the Atlantic.

Laverty, a 27-year-old Irishman, had a successful debut on Celtic’s 2008 GSX-R1000, which runs a TiForce exhaust and is race-prepped with other Orient Express products. He finished third in his first-ever race in America and at Daytona, the ASRA Team Challenge Solo class, and posted the fastest lap of the race.

A native of Toomebridge, County Antrim, Laverty’s brothers Eugene and John compete in the Supersport World Championship and British Superbike Series, respectively.

International talent scout and Celtic Racing owner Barry Gilsenan is thrilled about beginning the second year of the team’s Orient Express sponsorship. He’s also confident in his promising new rider: “I’ve watched Laverty over the years and have been impressed,” says the former racer. “We’re glad to offer him this opportunity to show off his talents in Celtic Racing colors.”

In addition to Orient Express, Gilsenan would like to thank William Myers and Blake Kelley, from WAM Cycles, for their bike-prep help, as well as Elf Lubricants and Rich Alexander, Jr. for their support and advice.