Leon Camier scored a pair of ninth place finishes in the first World Superbike round of the season, but both under different circumstances.

In race one at Phillip Island in Australia. he got a poor start and was battling all race long to make up places. He ended lap-one in 13th but fought his way to ninth at two-thirds distance and following a battle to the line with Jonathan Rea, the FIXI Crescent Suzuki rider just couldn’t get past him at the line to take eighth.

In race two, Camier was the innocent victim of a first lap crash which forced the Ashford rider off the track. He re-joined in last place and then had the task of chasing down the field.

Camier made up time to the pack and began picking off riders, eventually making his way to ninth on lap-19 after passing Leon Haslam. He pushed all the way to the line, but was unable to make up any more places and was left to think of what might have been in the second race:

“The first race was really difficult and the bike just didn’t feel like anything we’d been working on over the weekend. We really struggled and we made the wrong tyre choice – by the end of the race the tyre was destroyed!”

“This was very strange because all weekend we’d done race runs on the tyres and it hadn’t shown wear like that. I’d put in good laps on used tyres in the test and during practice, so we were confident that it would work, but whatever the reason is, it didn’t!”

“I got a better start in race two and tried to make some places up early on, but as I tried to go round the outside coming into a corner there was a big crash in front of me and I got taken out and on to the grass – so that was really the end of the race for me!”

“The rest of the time was just spent catching up and racing with some other guys. I had to try and do what I could and I could see Jules and Johnny Rea coming back to me really quickly so I kept pushing, but just couldn’t get up to them. It’s frustrating because I felt that in the second race we had the package to challenge the front pack.”

Camier and FIXI Crescent Suzuki will now head back to England for a short break before the next race at Aragon in Spain on Sunday April 14th. The next time the team takes to the track will also be at Aragon for a private test at the start of April.

 

Phillip Island – eni FIM Superbike World Championship – Race One: 1. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia) 33’47.109: 2. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia) 33’48.46: 3. Michel Fabrizio (Aprilia) 33’48.468: 4. Chaz Davies (BMW) 33’52.811: 5. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) 33’52.862. 9. Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) 34’06.261. 11. Jules Cluzel (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) 34’17.414.

Phillip Island – FIM Superbike World Championship – Race Two: 1. Laverty 33’45.938: 2. Guintoli 33’46.356: 3. Marco Melandri (BMW) 33’47.320: 4. Fabrizio 33’48.220: 5. Sykes 33’57.483. 7. Jules Cluzel (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) 34’03.268. 9. Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) 34’05.824.

World Championship Classification: 1=. Laverty 45: 1=. Guintoli 45: 3. Fabrizio 29: 4. Sykes 22: 5. Melandri 16: 8. Jules Cluzel (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) 14: 9. Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) 14.