Press release:British Superbike Championship leader Leon Camier finished the opening day of Round 6 fastest. James Ellison who is second in the Championship, finished 3rd in First Practice and 6th fastest overall.
Leon topped the timesheets early in First Practice. He was briefly pushed down to 2nd but continued to improve on his times. Leon eventually set the fastest time of the session, 49.492s on lap 17 of 25. James also saw a steady improvement on his times throughout first practice. He secured 3rd with 49.811s in the final 2 minutes of the session.
The Airwaves Yamaha team was confident of reducing their times in second practice. Taking a couple of laps to get back up to speed, Leon was lying in 4th and James 8th when rain began to fall. Both James and Leon decided to sit-out the remainder of the session and so did not improve on their earlier times. Leon's best lap from First Practice remained the fastest of the day.
After Second Practice
James commented:
"It's good to be back on track. The first session was really positive. Sector 1 is looking good, and I'm the strongest in the final Sector. I've got a few tenths to find in the middle where I'm losing most of my time in just one corner. We had some ideas of what to try in the second session. I had hoped to work through quite a bit on the Airwaves Yamaha so it's frustrating for it to be wet. But we've made a good start to the weekend so I'm happy."
Frustrated not to have more dry time on track,
Leon said:
"I had hoped for some good weather this weekend! But there's nothing we can do about it. We're all in the same boat. This morning went well. We got a lot of positives out of the session. It's always good to finish top but there's more to come out of the Airwaves Yamaha. Hopefully we'll get some dry track time tomorrow before qualifying."
Free Practice 1:1. Leon Camier Airwaves Yamaha 49.4922. Stuart Easton Hydrex Honda 49.570
3. James Ellison Airwaves Yamaha 49.811
