Airwaves Yamaha's Leon Camier won the opening race in Round 6 of the British Superbike Championship at Knockhill to give the GSE Racing team its first ever race win at the circuit, then followed it up in Race 2 to make it his third-straight British Superbike overall sweep.
British Superbike, Knockhill Race 1
Stuart Easton had another quick start in Race 1, but Leon Camier was able to reel in the Hydrex Honda for the win.
Hydrex Honda’s Stuart Easton claimed an early lead with a flying start off the grid, while Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda) and Camier followed in close pursuit. Meanwhile, Karl Harris botched an inside pass on Chris Walker (Motorpoint/Henderson Yamaha) heading through the Real Radio Hairpin, resulting in a DNF for the Hydrex Honda rider. Camier’s teammate and championship runner-up, James Ellison, was caught in the melee and forced to run wide, finally rejoining the race in 18th. The next lap Camier took the lead from Easton at the Real Radio Hairpin and proceeded to build an advantage with consistently fast laps, setting the fastest lap of the race with 48.884s on Lap 13.
Back in the pack things were getting dicey. John Laverty (Buildbase Kawasaki) crashed-out at Scotsman corner on Lap 4 and a heated battle between Michael Rutter and Simon Andrews raged for fourth, with Andrews finally managing to take the position by Lap 10. Relentless Suzuki’s Ian Lowry was also on the attack and passed Rutter at Real Radio Hairpin, nudging the Worx Crescent Suzuki back to sixth. David Johnson was Real Radio Hairpin’s next victim as the Team Maxxis Honda rider’s strong ninth-place run was brought to a crashing halt.
By Lap 23 Camier had amassed a 3 second lead over Easton, but another crash at Real Radio Hairpin (between Guay Garage Honda’s Gary Mason and Buildbase Kawasaki's Tristan Palmer) brought out the Audi R8 safety car as fluid was left following the collision. Both of the riders involved in the incident would take DNF’s for the race.
The race was extended to 33 laps, with the race resuming on the 27th Lap. Camier would hold off the pack to take his ninth win of the season, followed by Easton in second and Brookes in third.
Camier said after the race, “My start in Race 1 was miles better than any other I’ve had this season. I wanted to get past Josh Brookes straight away. I then followed Stuart Easton for a little bit, and made a pass as soon as I could. Once I was in the lead, I just got my head down. I managed to go quicker than my qualifying time. When I saw the safety car being deployed I thought ‘that’s just what I need’. All my work to build a gap meant nothing. In the laps behind the Safety Car I was thinking through a plan for the re-start. I decided to gas it but wheelied so had to back off, before gassing it again.”
Ellison took advantage of the restart to slip into sixth and challenge Ian Lowry for fifth. The YZF-R1 rider finally broke into the top-five after a number of attempts to make a remarkable recovery from 18th earlier in the race.
“I gave myself a bit of work to do but I knew our race pace was good,” remarked Ellsion later. “When Karl Harris crashed in front of me, I had to come to a complete stop. I couldn’t believe it. I fought constantly to make the places back up. I passed at nearly every corner of the circuit. I had to. The race was fun and I was pleased to be able to get back up to 5th, but the 1st lap incident was frustrating.”
James Ellison made an incredible recovery for fifth.
1. Leon Camier (Airwaves Yamaha)
2. Stuart Easton (Hydrex Honda) +1.805s
3. Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda) +1.904s
4. Simon Andrews (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +4.001s
5. James Ellison (Airwaves Yamaha) +4.875s
6. Ian Lowry (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) +4.898s
7. Chris Walker (Motorpoint/Henderson Yamaha) +6.587s
8. Graeme Gowland (Henderson Yamaha) +7.326s
9. Tommy Bridewell (Team NB Honda) +7.551s
10. Jason O'Halloran (SMT Honda) +9.728s
11. Michael Rutter (Worx Crescent Suzuki) +9.928
12. Peter Hickman (Ultimate Racing Yamaha) +11.750
13. Tom Tunstall ( Hardinge Doodson Motorsport) +22.387 14. Atsushi Watanabe (Relentless Suzuki) +28.191
15. Aaron Zanotti (Red Viper Racing) +1 lap
16. David Haire (DHR Racing) +1 lap
DNF. Gary Mason (Quay Garage Honda)
DNF. Tristan Palmer (Buildbase Kawasaki)
DNF. David Johnson (Team Maxxis Yamaha)
DNF. Kenny Gilbertson (Jx Fuelcards Kawasaki)
DNF. John Laverty (Buildbase Kawasaki)
DNF. Julien da Costa (MSS Colchester Kawasaki)
DNF. Karl Harris (Hydrex Honda)
British Superbike, Knockhill Race 2
The start of Race 2 saw Josh Brookes claim his first holeshot of the season aboard the HM Plant Honda, followed by Hydrex Honda’s Easton and Camier. Camier quickly mounted an attack and passed Easton at the Real Radio Hairpin on Lap 2. Some paint-swapping between the frontrunners ensued for the next six laps as they traded positions at the front, but ultimately the Airwaves Yamaha ace clenched the spot, maintaining the lead for the remaining 22 laps of the race.
Leon Camier rode to another dominating performance in Race 2 to capture his 10 win of the season.
Following his victory Camier remarked, “I got another good start to Race 2, only losing one place. I saw Josh Brookes start to make a break at the front so I passed Stuart Easton the first chance I got. I had a good fight with Josh for the lead. I really enjoyed battling him for a couple of laps. Once in front, it was a case of keeping focused until the flag. It felt awesome to get the first ever win for Airwaves Yamaha at Knockhill. To get a double is something else!”
Josh Brookes remained in second to seal his best result for the season.
Easton led Rutter and Ellison in the battle for the remaining spot on the podium. On Lap 12 Ellison slipped past Rutter at the Reel Radio Hairpin to take fourth, then a lap later the Worx Crescent Suzuki rider lost another position to Chris Walker as he ran wide at the same hairpin. It would not be The Blade’s lucky day; although he managed to reclaim fifth, he tragically crashed out of the race on the 21st lap to take a DNF. James Ellison secured the final podium spot on the twentieth lap, relegating Eaton to fourth.
Ian Lowry (Relentless Suzuki) was running in the top ten but was forced to retire on Lap 8 with a technical problem. Karl Harris (Hydrex Honda), who ran as high as seventh, would have another unfortunate race as he was also forced to retire with a technical problem on Lap 20.
The next round of the championship takes place at Mallory Park on 17/18/19 July.
Knockhill British Superbike Race 2 Results:
1. Leon Camier (Airwaves Yamaha)
2. Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda) +4.996
3. James Ellison (Airwaves Yamaha) +6.307
4. Stuart Easton (Hydrex Honda) +6.748
5. Chris Walker (Motorpoint/Henderson Yamaha) +16.488
6. Simon Andrews (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +26.311
7. Graeme Gowland (Motorpoint/Henderson Yamaha) +29.157
8. Julien Da Costa (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +30.550
Knockhill Podium (left to right): HM Plant Honda's Brookes, and Yamaha teammates Camier and Ellison.
9. Tommy Bridewell (Team NB Suzuki) +30.813
10. Gary Mason (Quay Garage Honda) +31.621
11. Tristan Palmer (Buildbase Kawasaki) +32.134
12. Jason O'Halloran (SMT Honda) +36.114
13. David Johnson (Team Maxxis) +42.160
14. Peter Hickman (Ultimate Racing) +44.008
15. Atsushi Watanabe (Relentless Suzuki) +1 lap
16. Tom Tunstall (Hardinge Doodson Motorsport) +1 lap
17. Kenny Gilbertson (Jx Fuelcards Kawasaki) +1 lap
18. David Haire (DHR Racing) +1 lap
19. Aaron Zanotti (Red Viper Racing) +1 lap
DNF. Michael Rutter (Worx Crescent Suzuki)
DNF. Karl Harris (Hydrex Honda)
DNF. Ian Lowry (Relentless Suzuki)
DNF. John Laverty (Buildbase Kawasaki)
2009 British Superbike Points Standings
1. Leon Camier (Yamaha) 267
2. James Ellison (Yamaha) 189
3. Stuart Easton (Honda) 173
4. Glen Richards (Honda) 103
5. Josh Brookes (Honda) 99
6. Simon Andrews (Kawasaki) 92
7. Karl Harris (Honda) 87
8. Chris Walker (Yamaha) 79
9. Ian Lowry (Suzuki) 78
10. Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki) 77
