Round eleven 25/26/27 September Silverstone MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship in association with Pirelli Leon Camier warmed up for what he intends to be a title clinching ride in the penultimate round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship in association with Pirelli at Silverstone by setting a scorching pace in free practice. The Airwaves Yamaha rider who needs only to finish in a points scoring position ahead of his team-mate and only rival for the crown, James Ellison, underlined his determination with a couple of fast laps in the closing minutes of the session, running half a second clear of the Cumbrian. Camier lapped the 2.213 mile International circuit in 1m 25.781secs, an average speed of 92.87mph, and is looking good to further extend his 16 race winning pedigree amid a dominant campaign that has put him 99.5 points clear in the rankings. “I know that I don’t need to do anything silly and that I just need to beat James, but he is going to be up there so I need to just focus on doing my own thing,” said Camier. “For me it is more about having it all to lose rather than to win, but who knows what will happen especially when the red mist comes down. I need to keep focussed as it is not all over yet.” Ellison, who ran the faster of the two in the morning session, needs strong results to maintain his second place in the rankings which is coming under threat from the Flying Scot Stuart Easton, who, fresh from his maiden victory in the previous round at Croft is on the pace again here. Riding the Hydrex Honda, Easton ran with a best lap of 1m 26.595secs and he reflected: “I feel like the pressure is on Ellison now in the championship as he has second to lose but I have it to gain.” Pressing the leading trio at the sharp end of the action is Simon Andrews riding the MSS Colchester Kawasaki, fourth fastest, ahead of Tommy Hill on the second Hydrex Honda and Karl Harris who settled quickly on his debut with the sorrymate.com SMT Honda team, with a best lap in 1m 27.160secs. Ian Lowry ran seventh on the Relentless Suzuki, a split second up on HM Plant Honda’s Josh Brookes with John Laverty aboard the Buildbase Kawasaki and Motorpoint Henderson Yamaha’s Chris Walker completing the top ten. Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli, with a lap of1m 27.439secs aboard the Worx Crescent Suzuki ran eleventh, ahead of the Mirror.co.uk Cup champion Gary Mason on the Quay Garage Honda, with Michael Rutter, riding his fifth different make of bike of the season and re-introducing Ducati into BSB, just adrift with a lap in 1m 27.540secs. NB Suzuki rider Tommy Bridewell was the second fastest qualifier in the Cup stakes, running just ahead of Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Champion Alastair Seeley who was graduating into the top flight aboard the Relentless Suzuki team’s Evo bike, built to meet the regulations of the new for 2010 BSB Evolution Class. Top ten times in free practice Leon Camier (Airwaves Yamaha) 1m25.781s James Ellison (Airwaves Yamaha) +0.510s Stuart Easton (Hydrex Honda) +0.814s Simon Andrews (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +0.814s Tommy Hill (Hydrex Honda) +1.215s Karl Harris (Sorrymate.com SMT Honda) +1.379s Ian Lowry (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) +1.397s Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda) +1.425s John Laverty (Buildbase Kawasaki) +1.439s Chris Walker (Motorpoint/Henderson Yamaha) +1.524s More, from a press release issued by GSE Racing/Airwaves Yamaha: Championship leaders Leon Camier and James Ellison ended the opening day of Round 11 top of the timesheets. James was fastest in the morning with Leon 2nd. Leon then topped the leader board in the afternoon with James 2nd. The only two riders still in contention for the 2009 British Superbike Championship had a trouble-free start to the penultimate race weekend. After consistently improving his times throughout first Practice, James posted the fastest time of the session on lap 23 of 24. His time of 1:26.381 being 0.452s quicker than his teammate in 2nd. The positions reversed in the afternoon session. Leon posted the fastest time of the day, 1:25.781 on his penultimate lap. James secured 2nd with a time of 1:26.291. After Practice Leon commented, “I’m pleased with how both Practice sessions went. We’ve managed to consistently improve throughout and I’m happy with the direction we’re going with the Airwaves Yamaha. We’ll be looking to improve on our times again tomorrow to put us in a good position for Qualifying.” Pleased with his days efforts, James said, “It’s been a good start to the weekend; probably the best I’ve had all season! I was struggling over the bumps in the morning so we made a couple of changes to the Airwaves Yamaha in the afternoon. Although we went quicker, it actually made things worse so we reverted back to some of the previous settings. I’m losing time to Leon during the first section, so I’ll be concentrating on that tomorrow. But the good news is we’ve got a few tenths over Stuart Easton.”