Ellison benefits from Camier exclusion
Added on Monday, August 31st, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Ellison benefits from Camier exclusion
Airwaves Yamaha rider, James Ellison, inherited race two win in an eventful second race of the day at Cadwell Park today, after teammate Leon Camier was disqualified.
As the lights faded Camier didn’t quite get away immediately, while Stuart Easton had a flying start, which catapulted him straight into the lead. As the riders headed around their first lap Camier wrestled his way to second, with teammate Ellison chasing in third.
Ian Lowry suffered difficulties at the start to drop to fourteenth from the second row of the grid. This meant he had some work to do but was not about to turn down such a challenge.
Back at the front, Camier, almost expectedly fought his way through into the lead, with Ellison not too far behind. As the Airwaves Yamaha duo disappeared into the distance, the battle for third was very much hotting up.
Simon Andrews and Easton soon entered a race long battle for third, which saw the duo swapping places numerous times throughout the eighteen lap duration. Having each had a turn at third spot it was eventually Easton who secured the higher position on the penultimate lap, leaving Andrews to follo him home.
As the race was beginning to settle into a rhythm, Michael Howarth suffered a mechanical problem, thought to be engine related, leaving him off in the middle of the circuit, oil on track and also the release of the Safety Car for a few laps.
Despite the impressive Audi R8 pace car bunching the field together, Camier and Ellison got the better of their rivals and once again disappeared into the distance.
As the leaders entered their final lap, smoke began to seep from the rear of Camier’s Yamaha, causing officials to show him the black and orange flag for the duration of the lap. Despite flags being shown to the championship leader he didn’t pull off the circuit, meaning shortly after taking the chequered flag his win was taken away from him, leaving him excluded from the result.
Without taking too much away from the Airwaves Yamaha team they still had casue to celebrate as Camier’s teammate, Ellison inherited the win. Camier’s exclusion also elevated Easton to second, giving him his second podium of the weekend, while Andrews was awarded third. Andrews’ Confused.com Kawasaki teammate took fourth, with John Laverty fifth.
After fighting through to ninth after a bad start, Lowry eventually retired just two laps from the chequered flag. Karl Muggeridge also suffered a difficult second half of the race, in which he ended up dropping down the order, eventually finishing thirteenth.
Commenting on his win, a delighted Ellison said: “We worked hard for that result, especially after having a disappointing practice but it certainly paid off. I was behind Stuart Easton again and I just knew I had to go for it, so from 200 yards back I just went for it and it stuck. I knew I could pull a gap and I was giving it everything. It is obviously better to win outright but you have to take these wins as they come.”
Despite Camier being excluded from another potential win he still leaves Cadwell Park with a 97.5 point advantage over teammate Ellison. The next round of the British Superbike Championship takes place at Croft Circuit, North Yorkshire, on 11-13 September.
