Dominant Harris confident of maiden race winning glory Free practice round one Brands Hatch 11/12/13 April ViSK British Superbike Championship in association with Pirelli Karl Harris maintained his dominant form across all five free practice sessions ahead of the Easter Monday opening round of the ViSK British Superbike Championship in association with Pirelli at Brands Hatch but he was only a split second ahead of Leon Camier when rain spoiled the duel between them. Riding the Hydrex Honda, Harris had responded to a flying lap by his Airwaves Yamaha rival Camier by clocking the best time of the weekend so far, 46.435secs, an average speed of 92.92mph, minutes before the rain. “The bike is going well and I’m able to put in consistent laps so everything is looking good but there is still work to be done, and I am not one to make predictions, although it would be good to enjoy my first win in this series,” said Harris whose team-mate Stuart Easton ran third fastest. Camier, who had not ridden his all-new bike until Friday, was delighted with his progress. “Things are going really well to get into the top ten was my aim, to be second is great. “I didn’t expect that. I feel really comfortable with the bike and we are still working through settings. There is amazing potential to be realised,” added the Airwaves Yamaha rider. Glen Richards, aiming to complete a hat-trick of titles, having won the Superstock and Supersport titles in the past two seasons was well on the pace aboard the HM Plant Honda, running just ahead of his ‘stand-in’ team-mate Steve Plater. The Lincolnshire rider is deputising for Aussie Josh Brookes who is still awaiting his visa to enter the country Plater who had taken a heavy tumble during Friday’s session escaped unscathed and amid a busy weekend is also well placed for glory in the opening round of the Fuchs Silkolene British Supersport Championship having set third best time in first qualifying. Sylvain Guintoli, the Frenchman who has switched from MotoGP to head up the Worx Crescent Suzuki challenge ran sixth best with a time of 46.802secs, just ahead of Gary Mason, the leading rider in the Mirror.co.uk Cup, a race within a race for Privateers, who recorded a time of 46.947secs on the Quay Garage Honda. Julian da Costa continued his consistent style running with a best time of 46.947secs aboard the MSS Colchester Kawasaki while Chris Walker, the four times former runner-up in the title chase, completed the top ten on the Motorpoint Henderson Yamaha. Ian Lowry closed in on them despite taking a battering in a tangle on Friday when he clipped the back of Tom Tunstall’s Hardinge Doodson Honda. The Relentless Suzuki suffered ankle and leg injuries, while his team worked late into the night to repair his bike the Ulsterman repaid their efforts, riding through the pain, with a best lap of 47.302secs. ViSK British Superbike Championship in association with Pirelli Top ten times overall in Free Practice Karl Harris, Hydrex Honda, 46.435secs, 92.92mph Leon Camier, Airwaves Yamaha, 46.506 Stuart Easton, Hydrex Honda, 46.700 Glen Richards (Aus), HM Plant Honda, 46.750 Steve Plater, HM Plant Honda 46.754 Sylvain Guintoli (Fr) Worx Crescent Suzuki, 46.802 Gary Mason, Quay Garage Honda, 46.947 Julien da Costa (Fr) MSS Colchester Kawasaki 46.990 Chris Walker, Motorpoint Henderson Yamaha 47.047 Jon Kirkham, Jentin Yamaha, 47.072 (All riders GB except where stated) More, from a press release issued by GSE Racing/Airwaves Yamaha: AIRWAVES YAMAHA SECOND FASTEST AT BRANDS HATCH The Airwaves Yamaha team has made a promising start to the 2009 British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch, with Leon Camier finishing today’s two practice sessions 2nd fastest. Teammate James Ellison finished 14th. After an encouraging debut aboard the factory-backed Airwaves Yamaha on Friday, Leon was quickly on the pace in today’s first practice session. In the afternoon Leon continued to improve his times, consistently lapping sub 47 seconds. His fastest time of the day, 46.506 came on lap 10 of 17. After completing a total of 55 laps during the day, James also set his fastest time of 47.475 in second practice. Any further improvement was to be hampered by rain. On the weekend so far, Leon commented, “I am massively happy with where we are at the moment, and it’s only our second day on track. We’ve made some big steps to improve the settings on the Airwaves Yamaha and it’s getting faster and faster all the time. I was starting to feel a lot more comfortable on the bike this afternoon and just can’t wait to get back on it again tomorrow. I must thank all the guys at GSE Racing for all their hard work over the winter. The package they’ve put together is awesome so all credit must go to them.” After second practice James said, “It was frustrating having the weather interrupt our plans for practice today, but I am so pleased to be back on a bike after the long winter break. The Airwaves Yamaha feels really good already so we’re just working on small changes to the set-up as the weekend progresses. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll have some dry track time, but whatever the weather I feel confident we can continue to improve our lap times ahead of qualifying.” Qualifying for the first round of the British Superbike championship commences tomorrow, Sunday 12th April at 1530.