Camier fastest after bruising two-day test

Briton Leon Camier has completed the two-day (February 14-15) private world Superbike test at Phillip Island as the fastest man on track, but the outing ended on a sour note when he totalled his factory-backed Suzuki.

Camier crashed at over 200km/h leading onto Gardner Straight, with his bike then spearing into the outfield, over a barrier and taking out a couple of small trees. Camier was bruised and battered, but otherwise okay.

“It became very windy this afternoon, and I lost the front on the last turn when a gust of wind hit the bike,” said Camier. “It obliterated the bike, which is not that hard to believe as the crash happened at over 200km/h. I’m pretty beaten up, and I’m going to be pretty sore tomorrow, but luckily I didn’t break anything. I felt pretty comfortable on the bike today and even managed to do a race distance okay.”

Earlier in the day, Camier had set a best lap of 1m31.2s to complete the two-day session on top of the unofficial timesheets, followed by Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia, 1:31.4), Marco Melandri (BMW, 1:31.6), day one pacesetter Eugene Laverty (1:31.7), Michel Fabrizio (Aprilia, 1:31.7) and a trio on 1:31.9: Davide Giugliano (Aprilia), Jonathan Rea (Honda) and Leon Haslam (Honda).

Meanwhile, the bruising day had started well before Camier’s big off, thanks to Ducati’s Ayrton Badovini. The Italian came unstuck at turn eight, with his Panigale 1199R bursting into flames and causing the session to be red flagged. The marshals were on the scene quickly and put out the blaze, and Badovini was taken to a Melbourne hospital after suffering a bruised liver.

The crash was an acute blow for the factory Ducati team, with the outfit’s No. 1 rider Carlos Checa already absent while he tries to shake off a stomach ailment. That left Badovini to shoulder the responsibility of giving as much feedback as possible to the team’s engineers -- and everything was on track until his incident. His bike, like Camier’s, has now been written off.

Rea also crashed and hurt his shoulder on day two, while those to bite the dust on day one included Kawasaki pair Tom Sykes and Loris Baz, as well as Suzuki’s Jules Cluzel.

Sykes, the championship favourite, fractured the radius of his left hand, while Cluzel has had surgery in Melbourne to repair a gash in his arm. Baz also sat out day two while his mechanics rebuilt his bike, but the trio is all expected to return to action at the final official pre-season WSBK test back at Phillip Island on February 18-19.

The private test at Phillip Island saw all the riders circulate on standard-spec Pirelli tyres, but on February 18-19 the company will be unveiling a new batch of tyres, including harder compounds as riders continue to come to grips with the resurfaced 4.445km grand prix circuit.

PRIVATE WSBK TEST OVERALL BEST TIMES (UNOFFICIAL)
1.    Leon Camier GBR Fixi Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 1m 31.2s
2.    Sylvain Guintoli FRA Aprilia Racing RSV4 1m 31.4s
3.    Marco Melandri ITA BMW GoldBet S1000RR 1m 31.6s
4.    Eugene Laverty IRL Aprilia Racing RSV4 1m 31.7s
5.    Michel Fabrizio ITA Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4 1m 31.7s
6.    Jonathan Rea GBR Pata Honda CBR1000RR 1m 31.9s
7.    Leon Haslam GBR Pata Honda CBR1000RR 1m 31.9s
8.    Davide Giugliano ITA Althea Aprilia RSV4 1m 31.9s
9.    Chaz Davies GBR BMW GoldBet S1000RR 1m 32.1s
10.    Loris Baz FRA Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 1m 33.2s
11.    Ayrton Badovini ITA Alstare Ducati 1199 R 1m 32.4s
12.    Jules Cluzel FRA Fixi Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 1m 32.5s
13.     Max Neukirchner GER MR Ducati 1199 R 1m 32.6s
14.    Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 1m 34.5s
Carlos Checa SPA Alstare Ducati 1199R did not ride

Official World Superbike lap records
Lap record Max Biaggi Aprilia (2012) 1m31.785s
Best lap Carlos Checa Ducati (2011) 1m30.882s