Camier adds to triumph tally
Added on Sunday, October 11th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Camier adds to triumph tally
Leon Camier fought to a triumphant eighteenth win of the season at Oulton Park this afternoon, after fighting off a late race challenge from Stuart Easton.
In the second of three races this weekend at the season Finale, Easton transformed his pole position start into an early lead, despite tough advances from Camier’s Airwaves Yamaha teammate, James Ellison.
Camier suffered a difficult getaway from the line, dropping him down the order slightly from the off. Up at the front, Easton and Ellison soon began to pull away from Easton’s Hydrex Honda teammate, Tommy Hill, who enjoyed a strong start to be running third for much of the opening stages.
As the first lap was nearing an end, Ellison made a move on Easton at Lodge corner, elevating him into the lead; Easton tried to come back at him instantly, placing his Honda on the inside line into Old Hall, but to to avail, leaving him to settle for second.
By the third lap, Camier was back on the pace of the leaders, with a move on Hill which gave the 2009 Champion third place. Before long he was chasing down the lead duet, eager to join his teammate at the front of the field. His plan soon began to take shape, when at the end of the seventh lap he made a successful move on Easton for second. Not much later he was through into the lead and controlling the pace.
Behind, Ian Lowry was enjoying a strong performance, chasing down and passing his rivals before a problem forced him to retire from the sixteen lap race on lap ten. Josh Brooks was also in the midst of a good showing in sixth, very much within a sniff of catching Hill in fifth.
Julien Da Costa joined Lowry on the sidelines when a rather large blow-out forced him out of the race. Due to the nature of both retirements the impressive Audi R8 Safety Car was deployed to allow marshals to check for oil on the circuit. With the track clear for racing, the pace car returned to the pits after one lap, allowing the race to resume for a five lap shootout.
Easton was soon revitalised after the brief Safety Car period, which made the closing stages extremely exciting. Easton out-braked Ellison into the Knickerbrook chicane on the penulitmate lap, giving him second and allowing him to take the fight to Camier.
Closing the gap to Camier to just 0.254 seconds within the last two laps enabled Easton to almost take his second victory of the weekend, however Camier’s pace through the latter half of the lap was no match for the Honda rider, meaning his was eventually forced to settle for second.
Ellison crossed the line third while Hill secured a solid fourth place finish. Sylvain Guintoli finished fifth, with John Laverty sixth, Josh Brookes seventh and Michael Rutter, Simon Andrews and Glen Richards completing the top ten.
Commenting on his victory, Camier said: “That was an awesome result for me and the Airwaves Yamaha team and to be honest I wasn’t really expecting it as in the past I have never been that good in conditions like that but it was just great. It was difficult at first to see where the wet patches were but I got into a bit of a groove and I wanted to beat Stuart this time. I now want to get back out there for the next one and make it a double.”
Easton added: “That race was really tricky as the track was drying but still had some damp patches so to start with you could see that everyone was a bit cautious to try and find the dry line. It was drying out though and I got into the groove and after James got passed me I had to try and peg him back a bit as he had made some time up. I do regret that move on the last lap on Leon as I really wanted to see if I could take all three wins and I thought I would outfox him and try the outside line but it didn’t work out. The inside line was still damp and I didn’t want to end up on the floor so I though I would wait for Lodge but there was no way to get ahead of him. I really enjoyed that race though and now I can’t wait for the final one.”
�
