Kent’s Leon Camier had a World Superbike Championship opening round to forget at Phillip Island in Australia on Sunday morning.

The 25 year old from Ashford had started both races from sixth position on the grid after a decent qualifying on Friday, but incidents in both races saw him punted down the order finishing seventeenth in race one and twelfth in race two.

A clearly deflated Camier had this to say after a disappointing weekend:

“I wanted better results today but we’ve gathered masses of information in the team’s first-ever WSBK race and I’m positive that we’ll see a big improvement in Imola. I can’t tell you how happy I am with the GSX-R’s chassis – for me it has the potential to win races.

“The bike brakes really well, is stable in mid-corner; and I’m perfectly happy with its character. If we can get a bit more power, we’ll be contenders for sure. In race one, I got pushed off the track by Giugliano and lost ground. I started chasing back to catch up, but as the race went on the tyre wore out completely and I couldn’t push any harder.

“In the second race, I got hemmed-in going into turn one, lost ground and was 14th at the end of lap one. I was able to pass a lot of people on the brakes, but lost out on acceleration and top speed and again the way I had to ride to compensate destroyed the tyre at the end. This was a tough day but the potential is huge.”

 

Full race results (1) for the opening round of the 2012 World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island, Australia.

1. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Racing RSV-4 22 laps

2. Marco Melandri ITA BMW Motorrad S1000RR +7.104s

3. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R +7.378s

4. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R +12.189s

5. Jakub Smrz CZE Liberty Effenbert Ducati 1098R +16.424s

6. Michel Fabrizio ITA BMW Italia Goldbet S1000RR +20.200s

7. Jonathan Rea GBR Honda WSBK CBR1000RR +20.223s

8. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Honda WSBK CBR1000RR +24.108s

9. Davide Giugliano ITA Althea Ducati 1098R +28.072s

10. Bryan Staring AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +34.232s

11. Lorenzo Zanetti ITA PATA Ducati 1098R +34.450s

12. Leon Haslam GBR BMW Motorrad S1000RR +35.648s

13. Maxime Berger FRA Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R +36.392s

14. David Salom ESP Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +41.500s

15. Joan Lascorz ESP Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R +42.086s

16. Josh Brookes AUS Crescent Fixi Suzuki GSX-R1000 +42.605s

17. Leon Camier GBR Crescent Fixi Suzuki GSX-R1000 +43.366s

18. Mark Aitchison AUS Grillini Progea BMW S1000RR +45.225s

19. David Johnson AUS Rossair AEP BMW S1000RR +1min 08.782s

20. Niccolo Canepa ITA Red Devils Ducati 1098R +1min10.440s

Not Classified

21. Eugene Laverty IRL Aprilia Racing RSV-4 19 laps completed

22. Ayrton Badovini ITA BMW Italia Goldbet S1000RR 14 laps completed

23. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1098R 5 laps completed

24. Raffaele De Rosa ITA Pro Ride Honda CBR1000RR 0 laps completed

DNS Chaz Davies GBR ParkinGO MTC Aprilia RSV-4

 

Full race results (2) for the opening round of the 2012 World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island, Australia.

1. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1098R +22 laps

2. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Racing RSV-4 +5.707s

3. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R +12.521s

4. Jonathan Rea GBR Honda WSBK CBR1000RR +12.655s

5. Leon Haslam GBR BMW Motorrad S1000RR +18.179s

6. Marco Melandri ITA BMW Motorrad S1000RR +18.831s

7. Maxime Berger FRA Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R +18.939s

8. Eugene Laverty IRL Aprilia Racing RSV-4 +19.478s

9. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Honda WSBK CBR1000RR +19.554s

10. Niccolo Canepa ITA Red Devils Ducati 1098R +26.289s

11. Jakub Smrz CZE Liberty Effenbert Ducati 1098R +26.479s

12. Leon Camier GBR Crescent Fixi Suzuki GSX-R1000 +29.145s

13. Davide Giugliano ITA Althea Ducati 1098R +36.482s

14. Lorenzo Zanetti ITA PATA Ducati 1098R +38.113s

15. Josh Brookes AUS Crescent Fixi Suzuki GSX-R1000 +43.234s

16. Bryan Staring AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +43.526s

17. Raffaele De Rosa ITA Pro Ride Honda CBR1000RR +53.929s

Not Classified

18. Ayrton Badovini ITA BMW Italia Goldbet S1000RR 11 laps completed

19. Joan Lascorz ESP Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 10 laps completed

20. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R 9 laps completed

21. David Salom ESP Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 8 laps completed

22. Michel Fabrizio ITA BMW Italia Goldbet S1000RR 4 laps completed

23. David Johnson AUS Rossair AEP BMW S1000RR 4 laps completed

24. Mark Aitchison AUS Grillini Progea BMW S1000RR 1 lap completed

DNS Chaz Davies GBR ParkinGO MTC Aprilia RSV-4