Steady Start For British Superbike Champions
09.10.09
The final round of the 2009 British Superbike Championship got underway at Oulton Park today. Airwaves Yamaha riders Leon Camier and James Ellison finished the day 5th and 8th fastest overall.
Leon, the newly crowned Champion, topped the timesheets until the last 6 minutes of morning Practice when he was pushed down to 2nd. James Ellison used the morning to familiarise himself with the 2.7 mile circuit, finishing 7th.
Early in the afternoon session, having completed just 7 laps, Leon tipped off at Brittens. He did not take any further part in Practice, and so was unable to better his time from the morning. James meanwhile continued to improve. His best time, 1:37.445 came on lap 12 of 21.
Commenting on his afternoon, Leon said "I'm really disappointed obviously. I'd been out on old tyres to get myself tuned into the track. I was just about to start pushing but I was being followed by a lot of other riders. I got to the chicane, turned in, hit the casing on the curb and folded the front. Unfortunately it looks as though the Airwaves Yamaha has suffered a fair bit, so sorry to the guys at GSE Racing for giving them extra work tonight!"
After second Practice, James said, "We've had a steady start to the weekend. We have to protect 2nd in the Championship so we're not looking to produce anything amazing, we just need to be consistent. I did some laps on the spare bike and then on my number one machine with used tyres, and everything is going to plan. I'm feeling really confident that we can make progress tomorrow and have a good first race."
Qualifying for Round 12 at Oulton Park is scheduled to start at 1150 with Race One at 1515.