Round ten 11/12/13 September Croft MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship in association with Pirelli Leon Camier dominated the opening exchanges ahead of the tenth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship in association with Pirelli at Croft in which he could clinch the premier crown in domestic racing. To achieve that, the Airwaves Yamaha rider, who goes into the races with a 97.5 points advantage, needs a winning double, with his nearest rival, team-mate James Ellison finishing outside the top five in each of the races at the North Yorkshire circuit. Camier, a winner at the circuit in the corresponding round of last year, worked methodically across both sessions, reducing his lap times, to record a best of 1m 20.571secs, an average speed of 94.94mph, and some 0.762secs faster than the rest, who were led by Relentless Suzuki rider Ian Lowry. Stuart Easton, the former Supersport title winner who is targeting the runner-up spot in the standings, ran his Hydrex Honda third fastest with a lap in 1m 21.751secs, just ahead of Simon Andrews aboard the MSS Colchester Kawasaki. Ellison, was fifth, though credited with the same time, 1m 21.540secs as Andrews, as he prepared for races in which he hopes to add to his three racing pedigree he pegged back ground on Camier with a win last time out at Cadwell Park when his team-mate was excluded from the results for a flag infringement. “Getting that victory was fantastic in that I closed the gap in the standings to Leon, but I desperately want to win on merit rather than being handed the victory because of someone else’s bad luck,” explained Ellison. “I didn’t have much luck here last year. We struggled all weekend with set-up problems. But this year I’m a lot more comfortable. I’ve really got nothing to lose, but everything to gain in terms of the Championship so I’ll be pushing to try and win the races,” he added. Tommy Hill marked his debut on the second Hydrex bike by setting sixth best time, 1m 21.575secs, ahead of the leader in the chase for the Mirror.co.uk Cup, Gary Mason, aboard the Quay Garage Honda. Motorpoint Henderson Yamaha’s Chris Walker was eighth fastest. Josh Brookes returning to action on the HM Plant Honda after serving a two event ban took time to settle but chipped two tenths of a second off his session times to be ninth on the leaderboard with a lap in 1m 21.828secs ahead of Buildbase Kawasaki rider John Laverty. Former twice champion Ryuichi Kiyonari, four times a race winner at Croft prior to his graduation onto the world stage, returned to the HM Plant team, riding their second bike in this round in place of the injured Glen Richards, but the Japanese rider struggled to match the pace, running 14th best and some 1.5 seconds down on Camier. Just adrift of Kiyonari was Sylvain Guintoli, who has signed to ride for the Worx Crescent Suzuki team for a further year, with Karl Harris, on his debut with the Node 4 Yamaha marginally slower with a best lap in 1m 22.418secs. Tommy Bridewell, Peter Hickman, Tom Tunstall and Martin Jessopp, a faller in the morning session, completed the Mirror.co.uk Cup qualifiers. Top ten free practice times 1 L Camier Airwaves Yamaha 1m 20.571s 2 I Lowry Relentless Suzuki 1m 21.333s 3 S Easton Hydrex Honda 1m 21.370s 4 S Andrews MSS Colchester Kawasaki 1m 21.540s 5 J Ellison Airwaves Yamaha 1m 21.540s 6 T Hill Hydrex Honda 1m 21.575s 7 G Mason Quay Garage Honda 1m 21.629s 8 C Walker Motorpoint Henderson Yamaha 1m 21.827s 9 J Brookes HM Plant Honda 1m 21.828s 10 J Laverty Buildbase Kawasa 1m 22.028s More, from a press release issued by GSE Racing/Airwaves Yamaha: CAMIER UNTOUCHABLE AT CROFT Series leaders Airwaves Yamaha, finished the opening day of Round 10 of the British Superbike Championship with Leon Camier fastest. James Ellison made big improvements during the two 50 minute practice sessions to finish 5th. After topping the timesheets in morning practice, Leon finished the second session over 7 tenths of a second quicker than the rest of the field. His fastest time of the day, 1:20.571 coming on lap 23 of 25. After second practice Leon said, “I can’t complain really. Once again the Airwaves Yamaha team has put together an awesome package. We’ve worked our way through our planned programme for both practice sessions and found a few areas to concentrate on tomorrow. We’ll continue to look for improvements in Free Practice 3, but all the signs are positive for a strong qualifying performance.” James’ fastest lap also came in second practice. He improved on his previous best by nearly 6 tenths of a second to record a time of 1:21.540, identical to that of Simon Andrews on the Kawasaki. Pleased with his progress today, James said, “It’s been a good start to the weekend. When you put all of my best sector times together, I’m running a strong 4th fastest which is encouraging. Towards the end of the morning session, I was having a few issues with the Airwaves Yamaha pushing me wide, so we made a few changes and it’s now feeling really good. There’s some fine-tuning for us to do tomorrow but really it’s up to me to get dialled in and get a good flow going. I’m feeling confident that if I can find those extra few tenths then we’re in a really strong place for qualifying and the races on Sunday.” Qualifying for Round 10 of the British Superbike Championship at Croft is schedule to start at 1345.