Leon Camier was fast both in the wet and dry, the Englishman second-fastest during the dry Saturday qualifying session and fastest in the Sunday morning wet session.
Aprilia’s Leon Camier turned the fastest lap of a wet Sunday morning qualifying session at Miller Motorsports Park. Rain started Saturday afternoon and continued into the morning, with the trackside terrain saturated and muddy. As expected, the combined timesheet remains unchanged, as riders lapped 15-20 seconds off their Saturday bests. The wet session results did reveal who might benefit from the deteriorated conditions, however, as BMW’s Leon Haslam and Ducati privateer Jakub Smrz took up second and third in the morning session.
Although a wet session, there was relatively minimal carnage. Melandri was the notable casualty, as the leading challenger to Checa in the points blew a corner and ran off track mid-session. In the dry it would likely have been an incident-free gravel run-off. In the wet he soon lost the factory Yamaha R1 to the mucky conditions, the entire side of Supermarco’s leathers covered in tannish grey mud.
Haslam may end up one of the luckiest riders this weekend. Recording a dismal showing on Saturday, the BMW Motorrad pilot reversed fortunes in the wet. Fastest in the wet session ahead of the factory Aprilia duo in the early laps, eventually his 2’06.351 would slide to third-fastest in the session. The BMW pilot could parlay the knockout Superpole formula into a decent grid position.
The reverse could hold true for Troy Corser and Michel Fabrizio, a respective 14th and 19th in the morning session.
2011 World Superbike Saturday Qualifying Miller:
BMW's Leon Haslam struggled on Saturday but fared better during the wet Sunday morning qualifying session.
1. Leon Camier (Aprilia) 2’04.901
2. Jakub Smrz (Ducati) 2’05.714
3. Leon Haslam (BMW)
4. Carlos Checa (Ducati)
5. Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki)
6. Max Biaggi (Aprilia)
7. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki)
8. Ayrton Badovini (BMW)
9. Jonathan Rea (Honda)
10. Noriyuki Haga (Aprilia)
11. Ruben Xaus (Honda)
12. Mark Aitchison (Kawasaki)
13. Marco Melandri (Yamaha)
14. Troy Corser (BMW)
15. Eugene Laverty (Yamaha)
16. Josh Waters (Suzuki)
17. Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki)
18. Maxime Berger (Ducati)
19. Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki)
20. James Toseland (BMW)
21. Roberto Rolfo (Kawsasaki)
