Eugene Laverty finished out of the points, back in 17th position, in the latest round of the MotoGP series in Motegi, Japan on Sunday.

The Toomebridge rider ended four places behind his Aspar Honda team-mate Nicky Hayden, who led the Open class.

Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa took his first win of the year, finishing eight seconds ahead of Valentino Rossi, who extends his lead to 18 points.

Jorge Lorenzo was third, with fellow Spaniard Marc Marquez fourth.

Eugene Laverty won the Open class for the first time at the Aragon MotoGP in Spain, collecting two points for finishing in 14th place in the race.

The Toomebridge rider beat Aspar Honda team-mate Nicky Hayden by 0.093 seconds and has now accumulated 14 points in his first season in the class.

Jorge Lorenzo took victory and cut his gap to series leader Valentino Rossi by nine points to 14.

Rossi lost out to Dani Pedrosa in a titanic battle for second place.

Marc Marquez crashed out on lap two while trying to keep up with the early hot pace set by Lorenzo.

Laverty’s best finish of the season remains a 12th position in Spain earlier in the year.