Laverty Claims the First Prize of the Weekend Today at Silverstone Yamaha World Superbike riders got busy this afternoon with a cook off in the team hospitality where they learned some tricks of the trade with Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food. Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty tested their culinary skills in front of a panel of Journalists that took on the difficult role of judges for the occasion. Melandri opted for a traditional “tuna pasta” dish while Laverty’s adventurous side surfaced as he turned his hand to a lightly spicy “salmon tikka and cucumber yoghurt served on Indian naan bread”. With great concentration and precision the Yamaha riders proceeded to follow the help and instructions provided by Jamie Oliver’s team of professional staff to turn out two scrumptious main dishes before joining forces for the making of a “summer berry pavlova” to conclude. After some initial indecision, the expert judges chose Laverty as the official winner of the first prize of the weekend, at his home round in Silverstone. Eugene was presented with a signed Jamie Oliver cook book from which he will undoubtedly find inspiration, in the kitchen. Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of food was set up almost three years ago on the 17th August with the aim of encouraging people to get cooking, ditch ready meals and takeaways in favour of fresh, home-cooked food which saves them money as well as being better nutritionally. The Yamaha WSB riders proved today that anyone can cook up delicious dishes as long as they have the basic knowledge and know how. The inspirational cook-up demonstrated that the riders can russle up some of their favourite meals without compromising on the necessary nutrition they require to follow a healthy diet. Both Melandri and Laverty revealed their hidden talent this afternoon and proved that healthy cooking can be fun and easy! Tomorrow in the first practice and qualifying sessions, both riders will get back to what they know best, using their R1 machinery as the tool to secure a good start for Sunday’s races. Both riders will be aiming for victory this weekend and to get a step closer to the leading position in the championship standings. Eugene Laverty Yamaha World Superbike Team “I really enjoyed the cook-off! The salmon tikka is a dish I’ll certainly be doing again. I wanted to learn how to cook more fish dishes and hopefully with my new found inspiration I’ll experiment new recipes at home. I came away a winner, so hopefully this winning streak will keep up for the weekend. I intend to carry on where I left off today, so who knows… maybe I can do a triple!” Melandri reveals new talent Yamaha World Superbike Team “It was fun! I went with a tuna pasta dish, as I prefer not to stray too much from the traditional Italian cuisine but this recipe was quite different. I’ve never heard of cinnamon with tuna! But it was quite good, the spices were very subtle. It may be an Italian dish but it had a very English twist. I have some good Italian family recipes that never fail me, so I won’t be ditching them just yet.”