Camier On British Superbike Pole Position At Oulton Park

Camier On British Superbike Pole Position At Oulton Park

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Leon Camier saved the best for last as he snatched pole start for the Holiday Monday second round of the ViSK British Superbike Championship in association with Pirelli at Oulton Park. The Airwaves Yamaha rider returned to the Cheshire circuit with barely two minutes of the session remaining, but he made good use of the newly fitted rear tyre, bettering Stuart Easton’s scorching time to take the first pole of his Superbike career. “It feels good and is something I didn’t expect,” admitted Camier who goes into these two races second in the title stakes, seven points down on Worx Suzuki rider Sylvain Guintoli. Camier had been running fourth best but was sent back out in search of better things, as he explained: “My team boss Colin Wright was kicking me to get back out there as the clock was ticking down, and I had one shot to take pole. “I managed to string the lap together you need to be consistent, flowing and precise around here, and my time came superbly,” added Camier who, after his flying lap of 1m 35.657secs, is now chasing a second win of the season. “My race pace is good we did a run earlier and I am feeling good so it would be really nice to be up there, taking another maximum score.” Easton, riding Hydrex Honda, was not too disappointed to miss out on top spot: “I’m a bit disappointed but I’m happy enough with the front row, that’s not so bad,” said the Flying Scot after the Swan Combi 50 Roll for Pole grid deciding session. “We’ve been in the top three or four in all of the sessions so now it is a case of keeping confident the bike is working well so we’ll keep calm and see what we get,” added Easton whose team-mate Karl Harris was only marginally slower. “I tipped off in the middle session of the Roll for Pole, though I nearly saved it, but went down on the grass, and then in the final part, having clocked a 1m 36s straightaway, the clutch went on the bike,” reflected Harris, a former Supersport Champion, who is chasing a maiden race win in the series. Guintoli completed the front row, with a lap in 1m 36.094secs. “This is a very difficult circuit to learn so I am very happy to have a front row start we started slowly but the pace is getting better,” he said. Simon Andrews, MSS Colchester Kawasaki; James Ellison, Airwaves Yamaha; Glen Richards, HM Plant Honda and Ian Lowry, Relentless Suzuki form the second row of the grid. Gary Mason, the leader of the Mirror.co.uk Cup, was the fastest of the privateer qualifiers, twelfth overall on the Quay Garage Honda with a lap in 1m 37.499secs, with Kenny Gilbertson, Jx Fuelcards Kawasaki, a second and six grid places down, his nearest rival. ViSK British Superbike Championship in association with Pirelli Top ten qualifiers from Swan Combi 50 Roll for Pole 1. Leon Camier (Airwaves Yamaha) 1m35.667s 2. Stuart Easton (Hydrex Honda) +0.319s 3. Karl Harris (Hydrex Honda) +0.430s 4. Sylvain Guintoli (Worx Crescent Suzuki) +0.437s 5. Simon Andrews (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +0.466s 6. James Ellison (Airwaves Yamaha) +0.934s 7. Glen Richards (HM Plant Honda) +0.987s 8. Ian Lowry (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) +1.169s 9. Chris Walker (Motorpoint/Henderson Yamaha) +1.404s 10. Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda) +2.453s More, from a press release issued by GSE Racing/Airwaves Yamaha: POLE FOR CAMIER AND AIRWAVES YAMAHA Leon Camier posted the fastest time of the weekend around Oulton Park today to claim pole position for Round 2 of the British Superbike Championship. James Ellison finished 6th fastest to start tomorrow’s two races from the second row. After making it through to the final qualifying session, Leon was lying 4th when he came in to the garage for a fresh set of tyres. Heading back on track with just two and a half minutes of the session remaining, Leon claimed a career-first British Superbike pole position with a time of 1:35.657. Clearly delighted with his results today, Leon commented, “During the first stages of qualifying it looked like we might even struggle to get on the front row, so to finish on top is amazing. We had a really late tyre change, so late in fact, Colin had to literally kick me out of the garage whilst I was in the middle of stretching to make sure we made it out in time. I knew I had just one chance to get a good time with the new tyres so I made sure the lap flowed and was precise all the way around. It looks like it might rain for the races tomorrow so it’s quite hard to predict how we’ll do, but I’ll be pushing for another win for Airwaves Yamaha.” Finishing the morning’s practice session an encouraging 5th, James continued to improve his lap times throughout all three qualifying sessions. His fastest time of 1:36.591 came on lap 3 of 5 during the final 10 minute shoot-out phase. On qualifying James said, “I made a mistake in the final session by coming in too late for a change of tyres so I didn’t get the final run I had planned. Nevertheless I’m really happy with the set-up we have found and our race pace is looking good so I’m feeling confident for the races tomorrow. I’ve made things hard for myself starting from the second row but I love racing at Oulton Park and know the Airwaves Yamaha has what it takes to get top results.” More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Sylvain Guintoli today confirmed his ability to learn new circuits by placing the Worx Crescent Suzuki on the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s BSB races at Oulton Park on his first visit to the Cheshire circuit. With only two days to learn the circuit – against three for Brands Hatch – and with the circuit being so much more technical, Guintoli was facing a huge challenge: Finishing Saturday’s three free practices in 16th place confirmed just how tough a task it was. However, today, Guintoli seemingly found another gear as he pulled himself right through the pack to finish fourth fastest – barely half-a-second off the lap record – to secure front row starts for tomorrow’s two 18-lap races. Sylvain Guintoli: “I’m very, very happy with today’s result. I feel confident with the tyres and that we have the pace to be a force tomorrow. “I’ve had to be very careful in learning the circuit; there are corners here that are taken blind at 150mph and with so many bumps and jumps it would have been easy to make a mistake. Finishing yesterday 16th fastest showed how much work there was to do, but we sat down with the data and analysed where we could make the differences. It’s been a great team effort; everyone has worked so hard.” Jack Valentine – Team Manager: “For Sylvain to make the front row is incredible. This track is very, very difficult to master. Sylvain made the effort from the beginning in finding his own way, rather than following someone else, and this has paid dividends. He relaxed and let the lap times come to him. “The GSX-R1000 has again been excellent. Our base setting continues to work well and we’ve made just a few small changes here and there to make the bike comfortable for Sylvain around this testing course. “We’ve got a front row start so there’s every chance tomorrow Sylvain will get good starts and be riding with the leaders.”

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