Kent’s Leon Camier was in Spain this week testing with his FIXI Crescent Suzuki team ahead of the next round of the World Superbike Championship.

They were putting their Suzuki racing bike through its paces ahead of the race at Motorland, Aragon in Spain at the end of next week.

After the opening round of the season Camier has fourteen points going into the second round of the season, after finishing ninth in both races at the Phillips Island circuit at the end of February.

He and teammate Frenchman Jules Cluzel were both on track for a considerable period of time, as they tested various race set-ups, as well as various component parts including engines, electronics and suspensions. Searching for the formula that will put them at the front of the field when the red lights go out next weekend.

The three days were particularly positive for Ashford born Camier as he came in second on the unofficial timing boards as he tested a development engine for the manufacturers Yoshimura, who will now analyse the data produced.

Cluzel by contrast is still getting used to his Suzuki and its handing and behaviour on a race weekend, and the three day test provided him with some valuable time on the circuit to get used to the bike. He is slowly fine tuning the bike to the way that he wants it to ride and will no doubt be pushing his team mate all the way in Aragon.

Giving his verdict after the three day session, Camier said: “”It has been a good test, because we have spent a lot of time working on many details to get them right. We now have a better understanding of the engine power mapping and how it makes the bike react; we have made some very important progress in this area and will be able to move on from here.

“I was able to work on my starts as well and made some really positive steps with improving them. It was one of the things we really needed to work on and we were able to do a lot of work. On the final day we tried some different chassis settings and it looks like we’ve got something very interesting to work with to try and make the turning and balance of the bike better, but we will have to see how that compares the next time we are on track.”

As well as providing valuable time on track for Camier and Cluzel it gave the FIXI Crescent Suzuki team some valuable feedback in terms of engines and other parts.

Giving his feedback from the three day event, Team Prinicpal Paul Denning said: “”This has been a very important and productive test for the FIXI Crescent Suzuki team. It has been a long time away from the track for the riders since Phillip Island and the priority was to put as many miles under the wheels as possible – especially for Jules. The whole test has been very competitive and we’ve made good progress.

“Leon was able to test the new development engine from Yoshimura and it worked faultlessly and gave a measurable performance improvement. It has now been crated up and is on its way back to Japan for further testing, before it can be introduced as soon as possible this season.

“He was also able to do lots of practice starts and worked on his technique as well as trying different mechanical settings of the clutch and electronic control settings – the combination worked well and we saw a massive improvement, to the point that by the end of the test each start was very competitive and he had full confidence in the launch procedure.”

Leon Camier and Jules Cluzel will next be on track on the weekend of 13/14 April as Round two of the 2013 season gets underway in Spain.