Camier takes pole, just, from title rival Guintoli Round three Holiday Monday 25 May Donington Park ViSK British Superbikes Championship in association with Pirelli Leon Camier, the leader of the ViSK British Superbike Championship in association with Pirelli, rewarded the hard work of his Airwaves Yamaha team to change the settings of his bike by claiming his second pole start of the campaign ahead of the Holiday Monday third round at Donington Park. It was, however, a close run thing with Sylvain Guintoli moving within 0.064secs in a dramatic ending to the final phase of the Swan Combi 50 Roll for Pole, having opted to pit and fit a new rear tyre to his Worx Crescent Suzuki in what proved a vain attempt to snatch top spot on the leaderboard. Camier had been well on the pace across the weekend but he saved the best for when it mattered most, putting in a lap of 1m 31.047secs, which underlined both the added power of his new, uprated engine, and also the changes to the set-up of his bike. “Now everything is working so well, and we’ve change things on the bike to get the speed on the corners, it is feeling good,” said Camier. “I’m well pleased because I’ve been able to put in consistent laps, and in each session the bike has been getting better and better. “We’ve got a pretty good set-up as well for the race, so now it is up to me to keep it going across the races. The new engine has made a difference, more power, more speed. “I am feeling confident for the races, though for sure Sylvain is again going to be a real threat,” reflected Camier, who with wins in the previous three races has an 11 points lead over his rival who starts alongside him at the front of the grid. Guintoli put in a best lap of 1m 31.111secs, but, the former MotoGP rider blamed himself for not doing better: “I made two little mistakes, and felt that I really should have had the advantage. I pushed to the max on that last lap, but, I am confident for the races they should be fun.” James Ellison, riding the second Airwaves bike, ran third best, 1m 31.442secs, despite a tumble to be ahead of Simon Andrews who was claiming his first front row start in the series, aboard the MSS Colchester Kawasaki. Local favourite Chris Walker ran fifth on the Motorpoint Henderson Yamaha with third in the rankings Glen Richards starting his HM Plant Honda alongside him. Karl Harris, another rider to take a tumble, and his Hydrex Honda team-mate Stuart Easton completed the second row. Julien da Costa and Ian Lowry completed the top ten qualifiers ahead of Graeme Gowland, who crash at Starkeys red-flagged the second part of the grid decider, and Josh Brookes who also tipped off. Gary Mason, the unbeaten leader of the Mirror.co.uk Cup, looks all set to continue that rich vein of form, running his Quay Garage Honda fastest in class with a time of 1m 32.838secs, to start from the fourth row of the grid, 13th fastest overall. Top ten qualifiers round three 1 L Camier Airwaves Yamaha 1m 31.047s 2 S Guintoli (FRA) Worx Suzuki 1:31.111 3 J Ellison Airwaves Yamaha 1:31.442 4 S Andrews MSS Colchester Kawasaki 1:31.585 5 C Walker Motorpoint Henderson Yamaha 1:31.805 6 G Richards (AUS) HM Plant Honda 1:31.863 7 K Harris Hydrex Honda 1:31.940 8 S Easton Hydrex Honda 1:32.076 9 J da Costa MSS Colchester Kawasaki 1:32.246 10 I Lowry Relentless Suzuki 1:32.891 (Riders GBR except where stated) More, from a press release issued by GSE Racing/Airwaves Yamaha: SUPER POLE FOR CAMIER Airwaves Yamaha riders Leon Camier and James Ellison will start tomorrow’s British Superbike races at Donington Park from the front row of the grid. Leon, the current Championship leader, posted the fastest lap of the weekend to claim a second consecutive pole position. Team mate James Ellison will start 3rd. After trading fastest times in Qualifying 1 and 2, both Leon and James were quickly on the pace in the final session. Leon immediately went top after his first flying lap, with his pole time, 1:31.047 coming on lap 3 of 6. James meanwhile worked hard to make his way up the timesheet and improved every lap. His fastest time, 1:31.442 securing his best grid slot for Airwaves Yamaha to date. After qualifying, Leon commented, “The new Yamaha engine is working really well, giving us more power and speed. It’s changed the bike a lot and we’ve improved in every session. From the times we’d been doing over the weekend, I felt confident we could qualify well but I just needed to make sure I put a good lap together. Our race pace is encouraging so I think I’ve got a good chance of a scoring a couple of podiums for Airwaves Yamaha tomorrow”. Reflecting on his qualifying performance today, James said, “It’s about time I made it on to the front row! I really gave it everything today so I’m pleased to have got the result. I’ve had the team behind me from the start, and of course Leon has had great success already, it’s just taken me longer to understand the YZF-R1 than I had hoped. The new engine this weekend has been great fun and it’s made such a difference to the overall package. The race pace we have is looking good so I’ll be hoping for at least a podium tomorrow”. Results: 1) Leon Camier – Airwaves Yamaha – 1:31.047 2) Sylvain Guintoli – Worx Crescent Suzuki – 1:31.111 3) James Ellison – Airwaves Yamaha – 1:31.442 4) Simon Andrews – MSS Colchester Kawasaki – 1:31.585 More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office: Worx Crescent Suzuki’s Sylvain Guintoli was at his combative best today setting second fastest time in qualifying for tomorrow’s third round of the British Superbike Championship at Donington Park, while Relentless Suzuki’s Alastair Seeley will start from pole in the National Superstock 1000 race. Playing shrewd tactics throughout the three-stage roll-for-pole qualifiers, Guintoli left his best lap until the very last, scorching to an incredible 1:31.111. But for a couple of mistakes in that lap, he may well have gained pole – which he missed by a blink of an eye – just 0.046-seconds. Sylvain Guintoli: “We’ve progressed a lot over the two days of practice and qualifying. In our first practice yesterday our best was 1:33.3. Today we’re over two seconds a lap quicker. Again we worked on our settings overnight and came up with something that felt very good. We knew the roll-for-pole would be a tough one so we held back in the early stages – I was only sixth fastest in the second session – but that allowed us a fresh tyre for the end. The team was so professional, I came in with seconds to spare to get that last flying lap and I had everything I needed. We could have had that pole but I made a few mistakes, but I am not unhappy; we are ready for the races. “Tomorrow’s races are going to be close, I think. Leon Camier’s going well – he’s on pole – so I’m anticipating a good fight!” Jack Valentine – Team Manager: “Everyone’s done a fantastic job; Sylvain’s riding very well and we’re in a good position for tomorrow. We did our race simulations and we’re confident Sylvain will be able to put in 1:31s during the race, probably settling into consistent 1:32s toward the end. To put his times into perspective, today Sylvain was lapping 7/10ths-of-a-second quicker than he was on his MotoGP Ducati on race tyres. This is a very, very fast pace. “Everything is looking very positive. The GSX-R’s base settings are still working really well with just minor adjustments. The tyres are also working extremely well and given Sylvain’s performance in that last session, where he was able to push to almost pole-time in just one lap, it shows the confidence he has in the bike. “The forecast for tomorrow is for cooler temperatures, but we’ll be fine if it’s as hot as it was today, or cooler. There’s a slight chance of rain but Sylvain’s proved he’s very happy in the wet. Yes, we’re very confident for a good pair of results tomorrow.” ViSK British Superbike Pole result: 1. Leon Camier (Airwaves Yamaha) 1m:31.047s 2. Sylvain Guintoli (Worx Crescent Suzuki) +0.064s 3. James Ellison (Airwaves Yamaha) +0.395s 4. Simon Andrews (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +0.538s 5. Chris Walker (Motorpoint/Henderson Yamaha) +0.758s 6. Glen Richards (HM Plant Honda) +0.816s 7. Karl Harris (Hydrex Honda) +0.893s 8. Stuart Easton (Hydrex Honda) +1.029s 9. Julien Da Costa (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +1.199s 10. Ian Lowry (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) +1.844s SEELEY ON SUPERSTOCK POLE: LOWRY IN BSB TOP 10 Alastair Seeley maintained his 100 per cent pole position record with another quality performance on the 2009 GSX-R1000 at Donington Park during qualifying for round three of the National 1000cc Superstock Championship. Seeley dominated both sessions and his pole time of 1min 34.336 was inside the European Superstock lap record for the Donington Park circuit. In the British Superbike Class, series rookie Ian Lowry thoroughly enjoyed his day in the sun, making the final cut off for the fastest ten riders, and although he didn’t post as quick-a-time in the final shoot-out, he can take it to the men in front, from his third row grid slot in Monday’s two races. Japan’s Atsushi Watanabe missed the cut for the top 20 by 1/1000th-of-a-second and will start on row six in 22nd position. BJ Toal, also running a 2009 GSX-R1000 in the National Superstock series with Relentless Suzuki qualified on row four in 16th place. The Omagh rider is making his first foray in the National Superstock 1000cc Championship and is confident of improving his grid position in tomorrow’s race, inspired by his second session time where he shaved almost a second off his personal best. Ian Lowry: “I’m happy and I’m not happy as I’m capable of going faster. If I can get on the back of those front men tomorrow I know I can run their pace all day long and be in the mix. We are constantly working on set-up to suit my style, but the GSX-R1000 Suzuki is awesome to ride and I’m loving the challenge of the BSB class. The boys in the garage are all happy and we’re working really well together – let’s hope it clicks tomorrow.” Alastair Seeley: “These next two circuits are my favourite in the series and if the 2009 GSX-R1000 can work as well as it has been doing, I feel very confident of replicating my Oulton and North West 200 results for the team. I was second half way through the second session but we stuck a new tyre in and pushed some traffic out of the way to record another pole slot for Relentless Suzuki. We may make a few minor adjustments for tomorrow’s race but I’m a happy chappy.” Philip Neill – Team Principal: “It’s been a positive day all round for the team. Ian Lowry has progressed all weekend with a faster lap speed in every session and the boys have worked hard to help him achieve his place in the top 10. Given that it’s only his third time on the bike in a competitive environment, Ian is doing tremendously well and a pair of top-10 finishes tomorrow is his target. “Atsu is still not feeling as confident as he would like to be with his set-up on the Superbike so we will work with him and hopefully he can improve his times in both races. I’m beginning to think the 2009 GSX-R1000 was made for Alastair Seeley with yet another pole time. He has kept his 100 per cent record in Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing colours and despite leading the series, he will no doubt be looking for another win tomorrow. BJ Toal is steadily improving and although he’s a few places behind where he’d like to be, I have every confidence in his ability.” National 1000 Superstock Pole: 1 Alastair Seeley [Relentless Suzuki] 1:34.336; 2 Steve Brogan – 1:34.518; 3 Scott Smart [Ducati] 1:34.741; 4 Richard Cooper [Yamaha] 1:34.992; 5 Adam Jenkinson [Honda] 1:35.256; 6 Daniel Hegarty [Suzuki] 1:35.990. 16th – BJ Toal [Relentless Suzuki] 1:37.067.