Camier roars to another victory
Added on Saturday, August 8th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Camier roars to another victory
Leon Camier confirmed his immense 2009 pace in the opening British Superbike Championship race this afternoon, at his home race at Brands Hatch.
Hometown hero Camier set the early pace for the day when he posted the first fastest time in qualifying, sending an important message to his rivals. Having survived the three qualifying sessions, Camier relished his rivals’ challenges to win the battle for Pole position.
The series leader was joined on the front row by the Kawasaki World Superbike of Broc Parkes, Sheridan Morais and Karl Harris. Tommy Hill, Camier’s Airwaves Yamaha teammate, James Ellison, Chris Walker, Karl Muggeridge, Michael Rutter and third placed man in the championship standings, Stuart Easton completed the Roll for Pole and top ten.
Qualifying pretty much went according to plan, with the exception of some crashes for a number of riders. David Johnson, Martin Jessopp, Steve Brogan, Tommy Hill and Sheridan Morais all suffered accidents, while Chris Burns’ Jentin Racing Yamaha succumbed to technical problems part way through the session.
After limited practice time due to a Saturday race, the riders were ready for race one, at a sun soaked circuit. Camier had a great start, however initially lost his lead to a charging Parkes, also Muggeridge passed and into second.
As the field worked their way round the opening lap, Morais suffered another crash, exiting the track heavily at Stirling’s. Despite this happening behind, Camier was not phased one bit, as he fought his way passed the HM Plant Honda of Muggeridge for second.
With the Championship leader now chasing down race leader Parkes, the battle behind began to hot up just as much as the battle for honours. Having started tenth Easton had some work to do to enhance his championship position, and made a good start by stealing fourth away from Walker in the early stages of the eighteen lap race. For much of the race duration Easton enjoyed a fierce tussle with Muggeridge, with the Hydrex Honda rider getting the better of the latter, eventually finishing third and fourth, respectively, ahead of a six way battle for position.
Despite losing his Pole position advantage early on, Camier was not disheartened. Closing in on Parkes as the race developed, the 23 year-old was ready to pounce at any time; a late braking manoeuvre down the inside at the Druids Hairpin allowed Camier to the inherit the lead on lap ten, from where he never looked back.
Further afield, a late race scrap between the MSS Colchester Kawasaki duo of Rutter and Julien Da Costa allowed the latter to get the better of his teammate for tenth, however it was just a bit too late to endanger Walker’s ninth place ahead of them.
After a thrilling opening race to the eighth round of the BSB Championship, Camier added a twelfth season victory to his already outstanding tally. Now all attention is focused on Sunday’s duet of races, to see if the youngster can add his name to the record books; with a 90.5 points edge on nearest rival, Ellison, all eyes will be on Camier on Sunday.
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