17th April 2011
Following a technical DNF in Race One, Aprilia World Superbike rider Leon Camier fought back to finish just off of the podium in Race Two at Assen today. The British racing star, who posted the fastest lap of the day, now lies 6th in the Championship standings.
Drama struck for the 24 year old as he lined up on the grid for the first race. Technical problems meant that Leon had to pull his race bike off of the track just before the green light. Leon ran back to start the race from the pit lane, pushing him down to 21st place and last. Managing to make his way up to 17th, Leon eventually retired to the pits on lap 18 after a separate technical issue struck his bike.
From 9th on the grid, Leon dropped to 12th at the start of Race Two leaving him with a lot of ground to make up over the next 22 laps. Leon quickly fought his way up to 5th by lap 7 but unfortunately by this time the leaders had already built a substantial gap. Although able to lap consistently quickly, even setting the fastest lap of the race, Leon was unable to get close enough to make any more passes. With 6 laps to go Leon was promoted to 4th which is where he would eventually finish, comfortably ahead of the rest of the field.
After the second race Leon commented, “We’ve had problems with tyres over the weekend, I made mistakes in Qualifying, and then today we had two breakdowns and the bike switching itself off! Anything that could have gone wrong did, so I’m happy to come away with a 4 th place finish and to improve on my Championship position.
“I was so annoyed with myself after Superpole yesterday. We were looking good to be on the front row, even with a small mistake in the first sector. But then a bigger mistake in the final sector put me back on the third row. I knew it was going to be tough to make my way up to the front from there, but being fastest in warm-up we knew we had good race pace. All things considered, I’m leaving Assen convinced that I can do well if I keep improving and luck stays on my side!”
The World Superbike Championship heads to Monza in Italy for the 4th round of the series in three weeks.
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