The ninth round of the series was taking place at Cadwell Park, a narrow and spectacular little circuit fitted to the contours of the local terrain. There are some fast sections, but plenty of tight and twisty challenges. There is also the uphill leap at the Mountain, where Camier’s season in 2007 came to an end when a crash saw him break a leg. However, last year had seen him get back to form at Cadwell after a mid-season crash at Oulton Park.

In the absence of recent BSB runners Michael Rutter and Tommy Hill, Chris Walker (with four on 750cc bikes) was the only former Cadwell Superbike race winner in the field this year, although both Karl Harris and Julien da Costa had won there in support class races previously. Rutter was missing because MSS Colchester Kawasaki rider Simon Andrews was back, his hand recuperating from injury. Hill was missing because Worx Crescent Suzuki’s chosen rider for the season, Sylvain Guintoli, was finally back from a broken right leg.

Also in the field was Isle of Man TT legend John McGuinness, who this time took over the HM Plant Honda of injured Glen Richards, in place of recent substitute Steve Brogan. McGuinness has raced HM Plant Honda Superbikes with success in road racing events, but his last BSB outings were four years ago. He had been a podium finisher with Hawk Kawasaki in 2004. Another change was Howie Mainwaring in for David Johnson on the Maxxis Yamaha, with Howie having done 40-plus BSB races in the last six years.

Qualifying for the three-by-three grid at Cadwell saw yet another pole position for Camier, with Airwaves Yamaha team-mate James Ellison only eighth and therefore on row three. Two Kawasaki riders shared the front row with Leon, and each achieved their best starting position for the season so far, and indeed for their BSB careers. Andrews was third, but more of a surprise was John Laverty, an impressive second for the Buildbase team.

Honda’s lead men were therefore back on row two, with the Hydrex riders Stuart Easton (fourth) and Karl Harris (sixth) the leading CBR pilots. Between them for a best yet was Relentless Suzuki by TAS rider Ian Lowry, the 22-year-old series rookie having apparently recently shaken off the swine flu. The second Suzuki rider was Guintoli, with seventh in his first ride back, and at Cadwell, being a good result. He will obviously want to get back to the front row form that he showed in the early rounds.

Guintoli and Ellison shared the third row with ninth man Julien da Costa on the second MSS Kawasaki, and row four saw Walker (Motorpoint/Henderson Yamaha) tenth, then McGuinness eleventh. The leading privateer Cup competitor was twelfth, with Quay Garage Honda man Gary Mason heading that class for the eighth time this year. Crashes during qualifying saw Karl Muggeridge (HM Plant) miss the top twelve.

Andrews made a good start to race one, but was quickly passed for the lead by Easton, with Camier only third, from Laverty. Following the first left at Cadwell, Coppice, there is a long right-hand bend, Charlies. Camier passed Andrews here for second, with Laverty followed by Lowry, da Costa, Guintoli, Muggeridge, Harris, Walker, Mason and McGuinness.

Easton continued to lead through the fast section, then downhill and back up again. The penultimate corner is part of a tight section, and is the downhill right Hairpin. Andrews squeezed into the gap on the inside to retake second from Camier here, but the Yamaha man regained his position at Charlies and soon tagged on behind Easton. Meanwhile, Laverty was dropping back as both Ellison and Lowry moved past.

Given what had gone before during 2009, it was almost inevitable when Camier got to the front. Coming out of Coppice, he dived inside Easton for Charlies, taking the place. Before long the pace told as he stretched out of reach, leaving Stuart to worry about those behind. Both Ellison and Lowry overtook third man Andrews, and James was the man to push the Hydrex rider in second.

Ellison attacked to try and overtake Easton in a number of places, including at the right-hand Chris Curve, and in the heavy braking zone for the Park right-hander, following the fast Park Straight. These all failed to come off, as he wasn’t quite close enough. As Camier secured another clear victory, the penultimate lap saw Stuart brake late at Park to stop another attempt by James, and they duly finished in that order, with Lowry close behind.

Andrews had been caught by team-mate da Costa, and passed by him. On the last lap Simon went ahead again on the inside at the Hairpin, although with both Kawasakis going out to the grass as they came out, before going through Barn corner and on to the finish with the Englishman ahead. Muggeridge and Walker had both passed Guintoli during the race, but Chris dropped back later, so Karl took seventh and Sylvain eighth.

From second on the grid and fourth at the start, Laverty had not had the race pace he needed, falling to tenth before regaining ninth from Walker for his finish position. Mason also finished ahead of Walker, then it was McGuinness, Tommy Bridewell (NB Suzuki), Peter Hickman (Ultimate Yamaha) and then Harris, only fifteenth. After that were Jon Kirkham, Mainwaring, Tristan Palmer, Graeme Gowland and Atsu Watanabe. Kenny Gilbertson had crashed just before the Mountain.

In race two Easton was straight into the lead, with Camier past Laverty into second at Charlies, and Andrews fourth before he also went past the red Kawasaki out of Charlies. Laverty was quickly pushed back also by Ellison and da Costa, with James then moving into third at the expense of Simon. Walker led the pursuit, from Harris, McGuinness, Mason, Guintoli, Muggeridge, Hickman, Lowry and Palmer.

This time it wasn’t long before Camier took the lead from Easton, doing so on the inside for Park. With this pair followed by Ellison, the first three looked to be getting away early on, but once in front it was Camier who built the biggest advantage over those behind. James also overtook Stuart, this time managing at Park what he hadn’t done in race one. At about this time new Jentin Yamaha rider Craig Fitzpatrick crashed at the Mountain.

Camier was out on his own in the lead, with Ellison also clear in second, and Easton pursued by Andrews, da Costa and Laverty. Simon repeated an earlier move to get by Stuart on the inside at the Hairpin - but then Michael Howarth went out with his MV Agusta F4 leaving oil on the circuit, and the safety car had to be deployed while this was cleaned up.

The restart saw Camier and Ellison start to move clear as Easton passed Andrews on the inside for Coppice, but then went wide and let the Kawasaki back through. He tried again at Park, but it wasn’t until a subsequent visit to the same corner that he got by when braking on the inside. However, Simon got it back going down the hill beyond Chris Curve. These two stayed together even when Easton passed again at Park.

Once again Camier moved into a clear and unchallenged lead, with team-mate Ellison in a handy second. However, towards the end of the race the leading Yamaha seemed to be slightly troubled. By the last lap Leon’s bike was clearly smoking and quite possibly dropping oil, and he was shown the black and orange flag by marshals - telling him to pull off the track. Being so close to the finish he kept going and was first past the chequered flag, only to be excluded.

Ellison inherited his third BSB race win, which he felt had also been the case at both Donington, where Camier had suffered a temporary mechanical glitch, and Mallory, where the leaders all crashed. But it still counted, and it meant that Airwaves Yamaha had won all the races except the first one of the season. It was also the thirtieth podium of the series for Yamaha, meaning that the manufacturer could be on course to beat its own BSB record of 35 in 1996.

Second place went to Easton, with Andrews getting third and a first BSB podium place after some near misses earlier in the season. He was followed home by MSS team-mate Julien da Costa, so that both Kawasaki riders recorded their best BSB results in this race. Laverty was fifth in the results, and Guintoli had passed Harris for eighth on the road - but because of a time penalty for Walker, and Camier’s exclusion, this ended up as sixth.

Walker and Harris were followed on the results sheet by Mason, with Bridewell moving through well for tenth, also gaining as both McGuinness and Lowry went out. Gary Mason therefore took his 25th victory in BSB Cup class competition, and his 15th for this year. The finishers were rounded out by Hickman, Palmer, Muggeridge, Mainwaring, Kirkham, Watanabe, Tom Tunstall and Martin Jessopp.

Leon Camier was the class of the field again, although his fate in race two meant his advantage in the points was cut by sixteen. Despite this, he is almost 100 in front, and surely this year he has been more than a match for nearest challenger James Ellison. With two second place results this was Stuart Easton’s best BSB meeting to date, and now all he needs is to hang on for that first race win. Likewise, Kawasaki did well at Cadwell, with Simon Andrews, Julien da Costa and John Laverty. But can anyone touch Camier next time?

Standings after nineteen races: Camier 399.5; Ellison 302; Easton 258; Harris 120.5; Andrews 119.5; Lowry and da Costa 114; Walker 112; Richards 103; Brookes 99; Laverty 95.5; Guintoli 95.

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