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Camier Gears Up For Battle of Britain
27/7/10
The reigning British Superbike Champion, Leon Camier, heads to Silverstone this weekend for Round 10 of the World Superbike Championship with his Alitalia Aprilia team.
Currently the leading rookie in the series standings, Leon has impressed with his pace and results to-date, quietly getting on with learning new circuits, in a new team and on a new bike. Although he admits it won’t be easy, he intends to do all he can to stand on the podium at his home Grand Prix, this weekend.
“We’re definitely capable of getting on to the podium at least once this weekend, that’ll be my aim, but I know there’s six other Brits all wanting to make the home crowd proud! The bike still isn’t doing exactly what I need it to and we haven’t seen it get substantially better since I first jumped on it. To be honest, I don’t think it’s going to be something we can solve in the near future, but we’ve seen that even when the odds are stacked against us we can be up there and that’s what I need to focus on.”
Talking about his season so far Leon said, “The weekends where I’ve finished on the podium, things have clicked straight away and we’ve managed to make our way up the timesheets every session. But the other weekends have thrown at us one problem after another, whether it be a technical issue, a set-up problem, or me pushing too hard and making a mistake.
“I’m the type of person who focuses on where things need to improve and can sometimes miss what have actually been quite big achievements for someone in my position. Thankfully, the team have picked up on all the positives of my performances this year and have been really vocal on how pleased they’ve been. In the very first race weekend of the year at Philip Island I caught Max massively in both races in terms of lap times. Then in Portugal and Valencia I was faster than Max in the race and then went on to beat him in Assen.. Even the weekends where we’ve had problems, I’ve fought my way through the field to some decent results and shown really good pace on old tyres compared to the other riders. The team have been blown away with what we’ve managed to do, but from my perspective I just want to be winning every single race and I won’t be happy until I am.
On his Alitalia Aprilia team and his teammate Max Biaggi, Leon continued, “The Aprilia team has been amazing all season; they totally deserve their number one position in the manufacturer standings. I get asked all the time what it’s like to work with Max and I really can’t complain about it at all. We’re at completely different stages of our career and so it makes sense that our roles within the team are different. Max is there to win the Championship, that is the number one priority for the team right now and so it should be. My role is to get my head down and have a steady rookie year; gel with the team, learn the circuits, soak in all the experience from my teammate that I can and then next year I can really go for it. I’ve won nine Championship titles so far in my career, being the youngest person to win each title, so I know what it takes and can’t wait to get the campaign started next season.”
Leon Camier career highlights:
1992 First
race win
1993, 94 Champion
– British Grasstrack 60cc
1995, 96, 97 Champion
– British Grasstrack 100cc
1998 Champion
– British Junior 80cc Road Racing Championship
2001 Champion
– British 125 Championship
2004 First
year in British Supersport Championship (finished 6th overall)
2005 Champion
– British Supersport Championship
2007 First
year in British Superbike Championship (finished 8th overall, injured)
2009 Champion
– British Superbike Championship
