BSB Knockhill 09: Camier Doubles

Lanky Leon Camier crushed the opposition with a double victory at Knockhill in the British Superbike championship meeting, extending his lead in the title race.

Stuart Easton nicked a couple of podiums at his home track on the Hydrex Honda, taking 2nd and 3rd places in two races. The Hydrex squad are doing brilliantly this year with the little Scotsman, making the far bigger HM Plant Honda team look like muppets.

Leading HM Plant muppet was Josh Brookes, looking seriously quick as he grabbed 3rd and 2nd places. The Aussie's rehabilitation from breaking Sylvain Guintoli's leg (accidentally of course) is continuing apace. He's really getting to grips with the bike and the twisty British tracks.

Brookesy's immensely popular team-mate and countryman, Glen Richards, was far less lucky. He made one of his very rare errors in qualifying, clipped another bike on the run to the hairpin and ended up with a broken femur. Luckily for the former British Superstock and Supersport champ, it was an uncomplicated break, and he could be racing again in 6 to 8 weeks. Get well soon.

The racing wasn't great, but it never is a Knockhill. It's great for spectators, with loads of elevation changes giving plenty of good viewing spots. However, it's far too tight for Superbikes, with a lap time of something like 49 seconds. There are hardly any places to overtake, as Brookes found out when he finished 3rd to Easton in the first race after shadowing the little Borders man for pretty much the entire 30 laps.

Still, Camier was stunning, while Easton and Brookesy were by far the best of the rest.

BSB: Youth Over Experience at Knockhill

Tom Sykes and Leon Haslam shared the victories at Knockill on a day that gave us elbow to elbow racing amid the rain showers.

Race 1
Leon Haslam was on pole position, but it was Michael Rutter's NW200 Ducati that led into the first turn of the damp track. Tom Sykes was snapping at Rutter's heels, and the pair swapped paintwork at the hairpin a lap later. Sykes launched his Rizla Suzuki down the inside, but Rutter cut back inside, pushing the youngster out onto the exit kerb to retake the lead with the kind of firm but fair move that would have Casey Stoner in floods of tears. Cal Crutchlow dumped his HM Plant Honda into the gravel trap and out of the race, but back at the front the battle continued.

Sykes passed Rutter again, this time into Duffus Dip, however Rutter once more retook the lead with some good, clean fairing-bashing fun into the next corner. Sykes finally managed to dispatch Rutter, who had Haslam, Ellison and Byrne chasing him. Polesitter Haslam dropped out with an electrical problem, promoting James Ellison's Honda to 3rd place. Just to top off the HM Plant team's bad race, Haslam fell off the bike as he trundled back to the pits.

With the sun starting to shine, Sykes was lapping back markers before half distance. His job was made easier when Australian Billy "Skippy" McConnell slammed into Japanese Atsushi Watanabe's Suzuki at the hairpin. At least Watanabe can now fake an injury and blame it for his poor performances in BSB for the rest of the year. Shakey Byrne started to move up, first passing Ellison then winning a battle with fellow Ducati rider Michael Rutter for 2nd. Ellison also passed Rutter and was following Byrne closely when the Airwaves Ducati rider demonstrated the difficulty of lapping back markers when there is only a narrow dry line. Shakey clipped MV Agusta rider Chris Burns's handlebar, and both were very lucky to stay on their bikes.

Tom Sykes took his 3rd BSB victory on the trot, dedicating the win to his friend Craig Jones. Shakey Byrne and James Ellison completed the podium, while Gary Mason won the cup class.

Race 2
The start was delayed as the heavens opened, and when the lights finally went out, Leon Haslam took the holeshot and started to stretch out a lead from the following pack of Rutter, Byrne and Crutchlow. There was excitement as Byrne and Rutter battled again on their bellowing Ducatis, with the Airwaves rider coming out on top and grabbing 2nd place. The sun was coming out and a dry line appearing, but there were still huge plumes of spray on the start-finish straight. Suddenly there was a massive crash towards the back of the pack at Duffus Dip. Johnson and Grant ended up in ambulances, while Gilbertson fell trying to avoid them but was unhurt.

With the race red-flagged while the carnage was cleared up, there would be a new 20 lap race, with the grid decided by finishing positions in the aborted first race. The first row would be made up of Haslam, Byrne, Rutter and Crutchlow, but there was drama as Crutchlow rode his wet tyre-shod bike back into the pits and swapped to his slick-shod spare machine (most riders having an intermediate front and slick rear). It was a big gamble as he would have to start from the back of the grid, but he was wearing a Craig Jones helmet, and would scythe through the field in the spirit of Jonesy.

Michael Rutter used his legendary skill in dodgy conditions to lead from the restart, but he quickly dropped back, presumably because the track wasn't slippy enough. Byrne took the lead, then Haslam passed Rutter for 2nd, then "Blade" was passed again by Karl Harris on the Rob Mac Yamaha. Behind them, Crutchlow was setting fastest laps as he tore through the field.

Shakey Byrne was pulling out a lead, but started encountering backmarkers and was baulked, allowing Haslam and Sykes to close up. Most people don't realize how big a Dani Pedrosa fan Shakey is, but he showed it by performing a near-perfect re-enactment of the little Spaniard's MotoGP crash at Sachsenring earlier this year. As soon as he touched the brakes for Duffus Dip, the bike hit the tarmac at around 150mph. It was a terrifying roller coaster ride for Shakey as he bounced high in the air, but was luckily not flying too fast when he hit the tyre wall. The marshals got to show off their red flag twiddling skills yet again as Shakey was carted off in an ambulance as a precaution, though medics reported that he escaped with a battering and a bruising.

Although Byrne was leading when he did his bouncing bomb impression, he was not classified as he caused the red flag. This gave Leon Haslam his first victory of the season, and his first ever on a 4-cylinder bike. Michael Rutter took 2nd place. A big cheer was reserved for 3rd-place man Karl Harris, who had managed not to fall off or be torpedoed by any other riders for seemingly the first time this season. "Bomber" has had an awful year so far, having been punted off twice, missed 2 races due to injury, had a couple of breakdowns and fallen off on his own a couple of times. His podium was hard-earned. Sykes had to settle for 4th place, while Crutchlow had fought to an impressive 7th from the back of the grid. Chris Burns managed to shake off his race 1 fright to win the cup class.

BSB Knockhill: Johnny Rea Reigns In Rain

It took a while for Johnny Rea to take his first race win, but now the floodgates have opened, which is a pretty good description of the track conditions at Knockhill. With the weather unable to decide what it was doing from minute to minute, the 20 year old Ulsterman took a double victory at the Scottish circuit. If we include the Suzuka 300km endurance race where he shared the honours with his HM Plant Honda team-mate Ryuichi Kiyonari, Rea has won 4 of his last 5 races. In BSB, he has taken 95 points from a possible 100 in the last fortnight and launched himself to just 11 points off the championship lead. Honda's decision to withdraw him from the Team KR MotoGP ride at Donington now looks sensible, as he is on a roll.
Race 1 started off wet, then dried up, and finally ended up wet again. Johnny Rea got a great start from pole position, followed by his team-mate and reigning BSB champion Kiyonari. Leon Camier's Bike Animal Honda and Leon Haslam's Airwaves Ducati were fighting it out for 3rd place when Camier slid off the bike at low speed and was unable to continue.
Veterans Chris "Stalker" Walker (Rizla Suzuki) and Shane "Shakey" Byrne (Stobart Honda) were now battling for 4th. Stalker's early pace was fading as the rain returned heavier than ever, and Shakey managed to nip past and grab 4th place. Behind them, rookie Tom Sykes took 6th place on his Stobart Honda, in front of Airwaves Ducati's Spanish star, Greg Lavilla, who had struggled through the pack after being caught out by a downpour in qualifying.
Rea eventually took the win by almost 7 seconds, and was joined on the podium by Kiyonari and Haslam, both relative codgers at 24 years old.
Race 2 saw a repeat of Johnny Rea's first race performance, more impressive if anything. He has turned from the stereotypical rookie who is wickedly fast but crashes constantly into a calm and calculating racewinner. The transformation of the last few weeks has been incredible. As with so many young superstar sportsmen, he has visibly crossed the line from thinking he can win, to knowing he can win. These sportsmen would claim they knew they were winners all along, but with that weight off their shoulders they suddenly have an almost serene air of confidence. This victory looked simply effortless, leading by almost 10 seconds at one point.
The faces on the podium were the same, but the order was different, as Leon Haslam overtook Kiyonari for an excellent 2nd place. Knockhill is a real bogey track for Haslam's team-mate Lavilla, and this time was no different. Struggling with visibility, the Spaniard touched a white line and was thrown into a gravel trap at the chicane. Admittedly, it isn't the easiest of chicanes, in fact I can't think of another chicane situated on the blind crest of a hill. Speaking of hills, Virgin Media Yamaha rider Tommy Hill also hit the eject button at the exact same place. Rizla Suzuki's youngster Cal Crutchlow had a scary crash on the exit of Clark's, sailing across the track and hitting the tyre wall hard, but was luckily unhurt.
Stobart Honda rookie Tom Sykes had an excellent race, scything through backmarkers and finishing in 4th place, less than a tenth behind Kiyonari after taking around half a second per lap off the Japanese in the closing stages. Sykes was visibly annoyed, as he would probably have been on the podium if the race had been a lap longer (ironically, the races were shortened due to the weather.) It has been an extremely impressive debut year for Sykes, as he is quick but very, very rarely makes a mistake. He has banked a lot of top 6 finishes, while most rookies spend their early Superbike races exploring gravel traps and straw bales. He is certainly one to watch.
Shakey Byrne came in 5th behind his young team-mate, again beating Chris Walker. Leon Camier, who is around 6 feet 4 inches tall, or 7 feet if you count his hair, finished 7th.
Overall, it was a great day for the youngsters. Johnny Rea was an outside bet for the title at the start of the year, but now it looks to be a fight between him, Kiyo and Greg Lavilla, with Haslam in with a shout. Rea looks like he has been winning road races all his life, though he hadn't won one before last month. Kiyonari kept up his usual visits to the podium to stay in the championship lead. Haslam has been having a much better time than he was at the start of the year. The big loser has been Lavilla, but he never scores many points at Knockhill anyway. Can Johnny Rea build on this dominant double victory and snatch the BSB title? Time will tell.