Camier tops the timesheets again in Phillip Island

The first day of official World Superbike testing concluded today with Britain’s Leon Camier picking up where he left off in last week’s private testing by setting the overall fastest time.

The Fixi Crescent Suzuki rider spent the day dialling in his GSX-R1000 after the team had to rebuild it following his 125mph crash last week.

He said: “We changed the bike a bit in the lunch-break, because unfortunately it didn’t quite feel the same as it did before I smashed it up last week!

“The feeling came back and we also had to change quite a bit because of the heat, I did the same lap-time in the cooler conditions last week as I did in the heat today, so I think we did a pretty good job.

“It’s very close at the top, so it doesn’t really count for anything, because the race will be difficult and the other guys have got some time to perfect what they’ve got.

“We are in quite good shape at the moment, but we know there is still a lot to do for the rest of this week.”

Leon Haslam continued to make big steps with his Pata Honda, finishing the test with a best time of 1.31.396. He concluded the opening day in second position and is continuing to improve every time he goes on track.

The top Aprilia rider of the day was Red Devils Roma rider Michel Fabrizio who finished ahead of factory man Eugene Laverty.

Marco Melandri complained about his on-going shoulder injury which was clearly causing him some discomfort during the day. He finished in fifth spot.

The surprise of the day was Alstare Ducati rider Carlos Checa who finished in sixth place onboard his all new 1199 Panigale, less than 0.3s behind Camier.

Checa’s performance was all the more impressive due to the fact that he spent last week in hospital with a blocked intestine and didn’t take part in any of the private testing.

Sylvain Guintoli had a difficult day on the Island, only completing ten laps before suffering a big high-side. Jonathan Rea incredibly rode back to the pits after suffering a high speed crash at the top of Lukey Heights to finish in ninth place with Tom Sykes, who fractured his wrist on Thursday in tenth, 0.8s off the pace.

1. Camier (Suzuki) 1’31.243 average 175.378 kph;
2. Haslam (Honda) 1’31.396;
3. Fabrizio (Aprilia) 1’31.401;
4. Laverty (Aprilia) 1’31.452;
5. Melandri (BMW) 1’31.485;
6. Checa (Ducati) 1’31.523;
7. Giugliano (Aprilia) 1’31.701;
8. Guintoli (Aprilia) 1’31.966;
9. Rea (Honda) 1’31.980;
10. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1’32.061;
11. Davies (BMW) 1’32.077;
12. Stauffer (Honda) 1’32.231;
13. Clementi (BMW) 1’32.789;
14. Cluzel (Suzuki) 1’32.817;
15. Iannuzzo (BMW) 1’33.162;
16. Neukirchner (Ducati) 1’33.541;
17. Baz (Kawasaki) 1’33.628;
18. Allerton (BMW) 1’34.009;
19. Sandi (Kawasaki) 1’34.094;
20. Lundh (Kawasaki) 1’34.612.