Would Leon be able to put that right for GSE with the 2009 Yamaha R1, or would one of his Honda rivals step up for a first win here? Someone who had been threatening to do so was Hydrex rider Stuart Easton, with the 24-year-old from Hawick surely bidding to be the first Scot to win at Knockhill since Steve Hislop in 2002. Indeed, Hizzy was the last man from north of the border to win any BSB race, when in the 1990s they’d had several challengers.

Qualifying at this very short circuit did look good for Honda, with three men in the top five, but Easton was ‘only’ third, and it was one of the HM Plant team riders on pole position. This meant an Australian in first place, and the last time that had happened had been with Dean Thomas in 2004. Series rookie Josh Brookes was fastest here, for his first pole and for the first for Honda this season. He admitted that he’d pushed to the limits on his best lap.

The other HM Plant Australian was in the wars though, as Glen Richards had hit Ian Lowry in a crash during practice, with Glen sustaining a broken leg. Also out with injury after a crash was NW200 Yamaha rider Jon Kirkham. And Simon Andrews qualified and would race despite a wrist injury. Like Sylvain Guintoli, Richards will of course miss races, and this may mean that the experienced Steve Plater gets to fill in again in upcoming rounds.

Between the Hondas on the front row of the grid was the inevitable Camier, with his Airwaves Yamaha team-mate James Ellison in sixth, a place behind the second Hydrex Honda of Karl Harris. The Worx Crescent Suzuki was going well here, with Michael Rutter fourth, the 26-time BSB winner surprisingly without a victory at Knockhill over the years. Seventh man this year, Chris Walker had done the double here in 2000. He was joined on the second half of row two by Motorpoint/Henderson Yamaha partner Graeme Gowland.

Lowry was not hurt in the incident with Richards, and his Relentless TAS Suzuki would start ninth, from Gary Mason (Cup leader with the Quay Garage Honda). Kawasaki riders followed, with MSS Colchester pilot Andrews eleventh, then John Laverty for Buildbase. On the fourth row were David Johnson (Team Maxxis Yamaha), Peter Hickman (Ultimate Racing Yamaha), Tristan Palmer (Buildbase Kawasaki) and Julien da Costa (MSS Colchester Kawasaki).

The local rider took the lead at the start of race one, with Easton heading Brookes, Camier, Rutter, Walker, Harris and Ellison. But at Scotsman Corner (formerly McIntyre’s), a right-hander after the first and second turns, Camier was already through into second place. A few corners later there is the fast, kinked Daewoo Straight (also known as Hislop), which leads to the tight final right-hand hairpin, slightly uphill and known as Real Radio (or Taylors). This is a passing opportunity, but it didn’t work out like that for Harris - he went down, pushing wide into Walker and also delaying Ellison. Karl was able to get up and going again.

The incident involving the fifth, sixth and seventh men left a gap behind the first four, and also moved up Lowry and Andrews to head the pursuit. Meanwhile, the hairpin was about to see a successful change as Camier went to the inside of Easton for the corner and took over in the lead. Brookes stayed with them, but with Rutter soon to lose touch. The downhill right-hander at turn one, the Seat Curves leading to Duffus Dip, saw Andrews take fifth from Lowry, and soon they were mixing it with Rutter.

As Camier once again started to extend his lead, letting Honda men Easton and Brookes dispute second; so indeed Andrews passed Rutter for fourth and looked like he might pull away quickly. However, the hairpin saw Lowry also pass the Suzuki man, and he chased after Simon to continue their tussle. Unfortunately, crashes befell Laverty (in eleventh) and Johnson (in ninth), with Kenny Gilbertson also going out of the race.

There was no contest for victory as Camier moved well clear, and by now the gap behind Easton and Brookes was larger still. Lowry got fourth from Andrews at Carlube (or Clark), the right-hander leading on to Daewoo, but another move between them at the same place changed this back. Behind Rutter were now Gowland and Mason, with Ellison and Walker also coming back into the picture.

Soon, Gowland and Ellison were together in seventh and eighth, with a group consisting of Walker, Mason, Palmer and another Cup rider Tommy Bridewell following. The Real Radio Hairpin saw Gary and Tristan go down together in a collision, and this was enough to cause a safety car period, with seven of the thirty laps still to run. By the time everything was cleared, the race had been extended to run to 33 laps after the restart.

The rolling restart saw Camier get the jump and start pulling away right off, with Easton and Brookes next. Rutter was back into fourth at the first corner, but moments later went wide somewhere and let a number of men past, with Lowry, Andrews and Ellison profiting, and a few others. Andrews went a bit wide at the hairpin, almost giving Ellison a run at him on the inside, but soon he regrouped and overtook Lowry on the inside for Carlube.

Camier soon secured his position and ran on to another race win. The last couple of laps saw Brookes challenging to try and deprive Easton of second. Coming out of the hairpin he would try to get on the right of his Honda rival going over the line, but each time Stuart would edge ahead again, and he just held second at the flag. Andrews just eased away for fourth at the end, with Ellison past Lowry for fifth.

The safety car had of course closed the field up, which helped the likes of Walker after his delay, with Ellison, on the first lap. Chris had earlier overtaken Jason O’Halloran, Bridewell, Hickman, Palmer and Mason, before the last two went out, and in the final phase Chris overtook team-mate Gowland to finally secure seventh. Gowland led home Bridewell, O’Halloran, Rutter, Hickman, Tom Tunstall, Atsu Watanabe and Aaron Zanotti. Mason had carried on, but well back, so Tommy Bridewell followed up Snetterton with another Cup win on his 2005 Suzuki.

Honda led again at the start of race two, this time with Brookes heading Easton. It only took Camier until the hairpin to move up a place from third, and Rutter was fourth, from Ellison, Walker and Harris. Gowland dropped places to both Andrews and Mason, and Laverty dropped one to Lowry before crashing out, which gave places to da Costa, Johnson and Palmer. There would soon be a battle developing between Rutter, Ellison and Walker.

This race saw both Brookes and Camier moving clear of Easton, with the Australian giving the championship leader a run for his money. Leon got on the inside for the hairpin to go past, only for Josh to get it back going over the line to move inside for Seat. But after the left at Duffus Dip, Camier got inside Brookes for Scotsman to get the verdict again. He wasn’t instantly going to shake off the Honda after getting ahead though.

Ellison had gone by Rutter at Seat, only to get repassed at Duffus. He then made the pass on the inside at the hairpin and then he chased after Easton. Rutter later made his exit at the same corner, leaving fifth to Walker. Harris had also just gone out, and before that Lowry’s Suzuki engine had given up on him. James got third place from Stuart when the Scot went wide at the hairpin, after lapping Zanotti, but the Yamaha man did not get away from the younger rider as they raced onwards.

In the end, of course Camier got out on his own to take the win, as Brookes followed up on four third place finishes with his first P2 result in BSB - Glen Richards, Karl Harris and Stuart Easton share the same best result, but this time Easton was fourth, just behind Ellison. Walker was fifth, then Andrews. Mason lost out so that Gowland, da Costa and Bridewell beat him home, then it was Palmer, O’Halloran, Johnson, Hickman and Watanabe.

Leon Camier took his third double win in a row, and his tenth win of 2009. His team-mate last year, Shane Byrne, took most of his ten wins in the first half of the season, and that number was enough to secure the title. At this stage Leon looks on course to be the youngest BSB champion - Terry Rymer was 23 in winning the 1990 750cc title. Meanwhile, James Ellison saw Stuart Easton move closer to his second position, and a very good weekend from Josh Brookes moved him right up the table. Camier can afford to finish second in all the remaining races, but will he just keep on winning next time?

Standings after twelve races: Camier 267; Ellison 189; Easton 173; Richards 103; Brookes 99; Andrews 92; Harris 87; Walker 79; Lowry 78; Guintoli 77; da Costa 66; Mason 65.

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