Camier fights his way back to 4th place
FIXI Crescent Suzuki's Leon Camier fought his way to a fourth place during Sunday's first race at the eni FIM Superbike World Championship event at Portimao in Portugal. Camier's result was his and FIXI Crescent Suzuki's best result of the season so far and shows the race potential of the Yoshimura-powered Suzuki GSX-R.
"I got an ok start in the first race and made a bit of progress" said Camier "but as I went past Haslam on the inside - and was well past him - he let the brake off in the turn and punted into me. I lost some time and dropped back some places and had the job of trying to catch-up and get through the field, so from 15th to 4th is a pretty good result. The bike felt good, I felt like I could pass really well and the speed of the FIXI Crescent Suzuki has definitely improved. This showed on the straight because I could exit on the last turn and keep the momentum going so I could pass at the end of the straight, which I haven't been able to do before, so I was really happy about that."
Unfortunately for Camier he didn't fare as well in race two, when a simple mechanical issue on lap-12 caused the Englishman to retire from the race as he was making progress through the field and was closing on the fight for sixth place.
"At the start of the second race I had a problem with the electronics" he added "and the bike didn't pull away as it should. I made a few places up, but didn't feel quite as strong as I did in the first race, but I kept pushing and I was getting in a good rhythm when a problem with the bike didn't allow me to continue. I was hoping that I could have made up some more places, because I could see the group in front coming back to me, so I think that fourth or fifth was achievable, but we will never know now!"
FIXI Crescent Suzuki is back to the UK before it prepares to travel to the next round of the series, which is scheduled for Imola in Italy on Sunday 30th June.
