Airwaves Yamaha Complete Day One At Brands Hatch
07.08.09
Round 8 of the British Superbike Championship got underway today with two fifty minute Free Practice Sessions. Series leader Leon Camier finished the day inside of the top 10. 2nd in the Championship James Ellison, had a steady start to the weekend as weather conditions limited his track time.
Deciding that nothing could be learnt in the damp conditions of first Practice, James remained in the garage for the full 50 minutes. Leon meanwhile, completed just 5 laps in order to bed in new brake discs.
Both riders worked throughout the afternoon session on various parts of their Airwaves Yamaha's. Although going out on track, James did not complete a lap so did not set a time. Leon once again limited his track time whilst working on set-up of the team's spare YZF-R1. His fastest lap, 1:28.021 came on lap 7 of 13 and placed him 9th.
After the second session Leon said, "We've not had the best starts to a weekend. The conditions this morning weren't great. It was good to do some laps on the spare Airwaves Yamaha. That's now ready for us to use should we need it. We plan to do more laps on the Number One bike tomorrow before qualifying, but we're confident in the package we have. I'll be pushing as always for some good results, especially as it's mine and GSE Group's home track. But I need to remember that this is just another race weekend, and keep focused on the Championship."
James will also be looking for more time on track tomorrow saying, "I was desperate to get back on the Airwaves Yamaha, but there wasn't any point in us going out in the first session. We wouldn't have learnt anything. I had a few laps in second practice, not that the timesheets show it of course. But the team are working as hard as always to get us in the best possible shape for Qualifying and the race tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will be kinder to us and we can work on closing the gap in the Championship to Leon."
Qualifying for Round 8 is scheduled to start at 1230 tomorrow, Saturday 8th August.