Snetterton BSB: Camier and Ellison 1-2 as rain lashes Snetterton

Leon Camier has taken pole position today for the fifth round of the British Superbike Championship at Snetterton in a session that was hit by rain in the closing stages. With rain falling on part of the circuit, the final session of the knockout qualifying format was delayed but, after consultation with the leading team managers, it was ultimately cancelled due to the mixed circuit conditions and the grid was decided on the times at the end of the second session.

That session had seen Camier post the only sub-1:05s lap on his Airwaves Yamaha and it put him almost half a second clear of team-mate James Ellison for his fourth pole position of the year. Behind Ellison, the times were as close as they’d been throughout free practice with just over half a second covering second to 14th.

Josh Brookes’ strong form at Thruxton carried over to the Norfolk venue and the HM Plant Honda rider took third with Stuart Easton completing the front row on his Hydrex Honda.

The MSS Colchester Kawasaki’s occupied the next two spots with Julien da Costa getting the better of team-mate Simon Andrews, the latter having topped the first two free practice sessions. Ian Lowry, Chris Walker, John Laverty and Jason O’Halloran completed the top ten.

Spots of rain began falling with only three minutes of the second session remaining and that resulted in both Karl Harris and Glen Richards missing the final stage of qualifying for the first time this year. They ended up 11th and 13th respectively whilst Michael Rutter had problems with both his number one and number two bikes and will line up in a lowly 20th.

Superbike – Final Qualifying leaderboard
1 Leon Camier (Airwaves Yamaha) 1m04.930s
2 James Ellison (Airwaves Yamaha) +0.477s
3 Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda) +0.525s
4 Stuart Easton (Hydrex Honda) +0.555s
5 Julien da Costa (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +0.576s
6 Simon Andrews (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +0.586s
7 Ian Lowry (Relentless by TAS Suzuki) +0.634s
8 Chris Walker (Motorpoint/Henderson Yamaha) +0.669s
9 John Laverty (Buildbase Kawasaki) +0.710s
10 Jason O’Halloran (SMT Honda) +0.759s

The final Supersport session was severely disrupted by an earlier rain shower and with a damp track it wasn’t until the final moments before the leading contenders took to the circuit. Although some riders did go quicker, the top ten remained the same although second-placed Dan Linfoot will miss the race, and possibly the next round at Knockhill, after breaking his foot in the first timed session.

Supersport – Final qualifying
1 Billy McConnell (MAP Raceways Yamaha) – 1m07.348s
2 Dan Linfoot (NW200 Coca Cola Zero Yamaha) +0.071s
3 Tom Grant (Centurion Racing Honda) +0.259s
4 Steve Plater (HM Plant Honda) +0.266s
5 Daniel Cooper (Centurion Racing Honda) +0.520s
6 James Westmoreland (JW Racing Triumph) +0.632s