Inside Track: Leon Camier on a brilliant weekend for him in front of his home fans at Silverstone
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Qualifying at the revised
Silverstone circuit for the UK round of World Superbikes last week
was held in overcast but dry conditions and my Aprilia RSV4 seemed
to like the circuit.
In the first 15-minute Superpole
session, it felt comfortable and I finished eighth but the second
Superpole of 12 minutes saw me get no higher than 16th for the race
proper after the stewards deemed I placed my rear wheel outside the
regulation track at turn eight, so my fastest lap was deleted.
With the lights going out for the
first 18-lapper on Sunday, I was determined to make up as many
places as possible. By the end of lap one I’d passed four riders
getting up to 12th. Two laps later, I was up to 10th with Carlos
Checa (Althea Ducati) in front of me. After another lap I was up to
ninth and next in line was Shane Byrne (Althea Ducati). Biding my
time, Byrne was despatched one lap later.
Up front, the lead was constantly
changing between Jonathan Rea (Hanspree Honda) and Cal Crutchlow
(Sterilgarda Yamaha). Meanwhile, with seven laps remaining, I
passed James Toseland (Sterilgarda Yamaha) but he was having none
of it and re-took me a couple of corners later.
I managed to re-take Toseland later in
the same lap and ahead now was my team-mate Max Biaggi.
With five laps to go I got past him at
Stowe Corner but he came past me on the next lap. When the flag
finally dropped for race one, I crossed the line in sixth, having
made up 10 positions. Crutchlow, meanwhile, took his first win over
Jonathan Rea.
Race two saw me make up six places on
the first lap. For the next couple of laps I was able to overtake
another two riders and with nine laps to go I was slip streaming
Biaggi and managed to pass him, this left Leon Haslam (Alstare
Suzuki) in third. Waiting patiently, I slipped past him on lap nine
and started to open a gap over the guys behind me.
Unfortunately, with the front two
riders almost six seconds ahead of me, the gap was too much to
close down. But crossing the line in third at my home race in front
of a partisan crowd was awesome – my third rostrum of the
season.
Having never won a race so far this
season, Crutchlow made it a double, taking the win from Rea.
Race results: Race 1: 1 C Crutchlow
(Sterilgarda Yamaha), 2 J Rea (Hanspree Honda), 3: Leon Haslam
(Alstare Suzuki).
Race 2: 1 Crutchlow, 2 Rea, 3 L Camier
(Alitalia Aprilia RSV4).
Thursday, August 05 2010
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