Leon Camier made a good start to the 2017 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship at Round 1 in Australia, finishing fifth in Race 1 and then eighth in Race 2.

The Englishman was just two seconds off the podium in Saturday’s first race of the year, but Sunday saw him further back, nine seconds away from a rostrum result.

In Sunday Warm Up Camier set the third best time, less than 0.4s from the World Champion Jonathan Rea, looking good on his MV Agusta F4 RC. In Race 2 the 30-year old started from second position thanks to the new grid reshuffle regulations for 2017 and courtesy of his fifth place in Race 1.

However, Camier lost several positions in the early laps and put in a fight to remain in the top 10, eventually crossing the line in eighth place, leaving him sixth in the general standings after the opening weekend of the season.

Reflecting on the Yamaha Finance Australian Round, Camier said, “We got a decent start but I think we went in a little bit of a wrong way with the setting and I was struggling to hold on to them at the beginning of the race when everyone had good grip. The other bikes were turning much better and I was losing so much time on the edge of the tyre trying to turn. On Saturday by the time the race settled down I was still in the group but this time they were gone from the start. It’s a little bit frustrating but I was sort of expecting it to be harder.”