Camier on the Pace at Phillip Island

Team Suzuki Press Office – February 14.

FIXI Crescent Suzuki’s Leon Camier finished the first day of the team’s
World Superbike test at Phillip Island on an encouraging note as he
unofficially posted the second fastest time around the newly resurfaced
fast Australian circuit.

Camier made consistent and fast progress throughout the day after escaping
unhurt from a huge high-side in the morning. His crew quickly repaired the
Yoshimura-powered GSX-R1000 to enable him to get back on the circuit and
make the most of the available track-time and Camier certainly did that as
he posted ever-improving lap times, with his best coming at the end of a
race-long run. As the first day’s testing drew to a close, the Englishman
was riding at a high pace and looking smooth around the Phillip Island
circuit.

Jules Cluzel posted some competitive times to give him seventh place on
the ‘unofficial’ time-sheets, on only his third outing on a Superbike.
Cluzel was also the victim of an unexpected crash early on and although
the Frenchman walked away uninjured from the high-speed incident, his
machine suffered substantial damage causing him to lose a large part of
the day as his team had to rebuild the bike from the ground up. Cluzel’s
confidence and style continued to improve throughout the rest of the day,
but unfortunately the Frenchman suffered another fast crash at the same
corner and had to have medical assistance to a large cut on his elbow. He
will have further treatment this evening, but it appears unlikely that he
will be able to participate in tomorrow’s proceedings.

FIXI Crescent Suzuki will have a second full-day of testing tomorrow as it
prepares for next week’s timed ‘Official Test’ and the forthcoming season
premiere of the 2013 eni FIM Superbike World Championship scheduled for
Sunday February 24th.

Leon Camier:

“Today ended up pretty good considering the crash in the morning, and we
ended up second quickest which was good. There is still room for
improvement in the bike – nothing massive – and I also feel that I can
improve as well and the feeling with the setting could be better. I think
it will get harder and harder from here because the track will get better
and everyone will push more. I don’t really know why I crashed because the
track felt good and it was nice and smooth with the new surface – in fact
it was quite confidence inspiring. I was on an in-lap and as I turned into
the second-last corner in quite a positive way – but slower than
previously – the bike just came round on me and off I went. I was really
shocked, as I didn’t expect it and I was suddenly very high in the air – I
thought it was going to hurt when I was up there – luckily I didn’t hurt
myself other than bashing my elbow and ankle. For the rest of the day I
had more respect for the track and I just let it come to me. The surface
improved as the day went on, not with grip really but tyre durability. We
ended up going pretty quick, which was good and now we have to work on
race-pace and concentrate on the race weekend.”

Jules Cluzel:

“I had a really good feeling on my first time here on a Superbike, but I
had a big crash in turn 11 – it was so big I think it should now be
‘Cluzel Corner’! I lost the rear really quickly and it took me by
surprise, because I don’t really know what happened. The guys repaired the
bike quickly because it was very damaged and they made sure I could ride
at the end. I then had a second crash in the same place and I cannot say
anything about it. It was also very surprising and although it was a less
aggressive crash it opened the cut on my elbow. The feeling on the bike
was really nice though and the GSX-R is easy to ride. After the first
crash I had some good lap-times and I paid more attention to the track and
so I was really confused why I crashed in the same place. I need to
understand why this happened, maybe it is a certain style that I need to
learn to ride the Superbike and especially in this corner – I don’t know
yet!”

Phillip Island Test Day One (Unofficial Classification): 1. Eugene
Laverty (Aprilia) 1’31.7: 2. Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) 1’31.9: 3.
Jonathon Rea (Honda) 1’32.0: 4. Leon Haslam (Honda) 1’32.0: 5. Marco
Melandri (BMW) 1’32.2. 7. Jules Cluzel (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) 1’32.5.