The three-race format had proved successful at the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit earlier in the year, with an extra outing on Saturday added to the usual pair on Sunday. The same would apply here, in the second 2009 visit to Oulton, where Camier had done the double earlier in the year, each time followed home by Karl Harris and Sylvain Guintoli. The other former Oulton BSB winners in the field were Chris Walker and Michael Rutter.

Qualifying in this round took place on a drying track, and it was only the third time in 2009 that Camier had not secured pole position, perhaps not helped by a practice crash. Honda riders took three of the four front row grid positions, all of them Hydrex riders this season. Circuit specialist Harris (third) is of course now with the SMT team, his Hydrex place taken by Tommy Hill (fourth). Karl had a WSB-spec. engine this time. This season’s leading Hydrex rider took his first BSB pole, with Stuart Easton the first Scot to start from P1 since 2002. It was the 30th Honda BSB pole since full scale factory support arrived in 2004, but only their second this year.

Camier was still up in second, his team-mate James Ellison leading row two in fifth. Four different makes of bike made up the second row, with James followed by Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda), Rutter (Bathams Ducati) and Ian Lowry (Relentless Suzuki by TAS). Guintoli was ninth for Worx Crescent Suzuki, and the first Kawasaki was that of tenth man John Laverty (Buildbase). Glen Richards was in P11 for HM Plant.

Alastair Seeley was again appearing in BSB for the Relentless team, but this time he took over on Atsushi Watanabe’s full BSB-spec. Suzuki, rather than riding the ‘evo’ model. He would start in P12. Simon Andrews was next for MSS Colchester Kawasaki, having had a tyre problem that held him back, and then it was Walker (Motorpoint/Henderson Yamaha), Julien da Costa (MSS), Graeme Gowland (Motorpoint) and then the first Cup rider, Tommy Bridewell (NB Suzuki).

Race one saw the now familiar good start from Easton, who led away. Brookes got up to second, but after only two corners he was in trouble, pulling out on the right along the Lakeside stretch, with electrical trouble. This put Hill into second for a Hydrex one-two, then Harris, with Camier passing Ellison for fourth, from Laverty and Walker. As the first five began to move clear of the rest, lap two saw Gowland crash at Dentons, the downhill kink beyond the first corner. The Yamaha ended up in the water at the lake’s edge, although Graeme didn’t get that far.

The race between the Hondas at the front saw Hill pass Easton on the brakes for the inside of the final right Lodge Corner, flapping his right leg as he did so. But Stuart responded on the inside at the first corner of the next lap, the right-handed Old Hall Corner. The straight at Lakeside turns into a fast left at Island Bend, leading to the tightly banked right-hand Shell Oils Corner. Tommy overtook his team-mate on the inside through Island, pushing Stuart wide. Third man Harris was placed to go for the outside at Shell, but a brief clash with the leading Honda pushed him off and he crashed. It was not unlike an incident he’d unluckily been involved in at the same place a year earlier.

Ellison somehow avoided the other leaders and emerged in the lead, but the crash called for a safety car period, and under those conditions he should not have been overtaking. Ultimately it was necessary to restart the race, with the new front row of the grid based on positions before the safety car: Hill, Easton, Camier and Ellison. Harris was knocked out in the impact and suffered some concussion, but he wasn’t injured.

The new start saw Easton lead away, but with Ellison getting on his inside for Old Hall, leading briefly until he went wide. He stayed ahead of Hill, Andrews, Walker, Camier and Laverty. James made another move at Hizzys, the right-left-right chicane down the slope from Hill Top. The usual move at that point is to brake on the inside so as to turn in to the first apex and take the place, and this worked for the 29-year-old.

Andrews overtook Hill on the inside at Old Hall for third, which was a big improvement over his original P13 grid start; but Camier was also on the move. Quickly passing Walker, Leon went past Hill by going to the outside at Island, which put him inside for the Shell hairpin and gave him the advantage. He did much the same in turn to demote Andrews to fourth. When Simon went wide at the Druids right-hand bend he lost that place to Hill.

Easton had regained the lead, and now raced on rapidly with Ellison, Camier and Hill chasing, as the rest lost touch. Leon overtook team-mate James on the inside at Lodge, with the number 7 rider trying to get back ahead on the outside at Old Hall. Camier was therefore onto the tail of leader Easton for the final laps of the race, with their two team-mates right behind, and he was soon enough on the attack.

With two laps remaining, Camier passed Easton on the inside for Lodge, with third man Ellison at the same time setting a new fastest lap. James tried to gain second at the Shell hairpin, on the inside of the Honda, but he went wide and Stuart was back through. He fought to stay close to Leon ahead, and on the last lap he dived past on the inside for Old Hall. Camier took it back in The Avenue, straight away. However, Stuart got onto the inside line for Hizzys, taking the lead on the brakes. Hill passed Ellison at the same place. The foursome jostled for position for the rest of that lap, but no clear passing chances were created, and so Easton won from Camier, Hill and Ellison.

Guintoli had made progress past Laverty, Walker and Andrews to head a close group to the flag, taking fifth. The others battling with him finished in the order Andrews, da Costa, Lowry, Walker and Laverty. Richards and Rutter were next, followed by Cup runners Gary Mason (Quay Garage Honda), Peter Hickman (Ultimate Racing Yamaha), Bridewell, Tom Tunstall (Hardinge Doodson Honda) and Martin Jessopp (Riders Racing Honda), followed by Howie Mainwaring, Dan Linfoot and Aaron Zanotti.

Sunday brought race two, and with Harris missing from the grid everyone beyond the first two moved up a place. This one took place with damp sections of the track, after earlier rain, but with sunny conditions. Hydrex riders Easton and Hill got away at the front, but with Ellison (riding his spare Yamaha) quick to move up to second. Camier, Brookes, Guintoli, Rutter, Andrews and Laverty followed, but with Andrews also gaining a place in the opening minutes.

Ellison took the lead from Easton on the inside at Lodge, and then James survived a ‘moment’ on the outside going out of Cascades, the left hander at the foot of the hill, after Old Hall and Dentons. These two were beginning to ease clear of Hill and Camier, but before long Leon would move up to third at Lodge, and would chase down the leading pair. Guintoli had taken fifth from Brookes, and soon these two would be joining battle with Hill as the rest fell away.

With Ellison starting to edge away from Easton, Camier was onto the tail of the Honda, and Lodge Corner saw him go through on the inside. Before much longer Leon was on the back of team-mate James, and he went through to first on the inside for Island Bend. By this stage, Walker had already had an excursion over the grass beyond Hizzys chicane, Hickman had gone down, and 11th placed da Costa had suffered a smoky engine blow-up. Lowry’s progress had seen him pass Rutter, Laverty and Andrews for seventh, but now he went out as his Suzuki’s chain came off.

The late laps saw Camier still closely followed by Ellison, and with Easton remaining in touch. Braking for Hizzys on the inside, Stuart now overtook James. He was right with Leon for the final lap, with the other Yamaha now trailing. The Honda man went to the outside along from Hill Top, trying for a pass at Hizzys. This time Camier defended, and he reached the flag just ahead of Easton, with Ellison not too far off for third.

Hill had fought back past Guintoli for fourth, with Laverty having moved up to sixth, from Brookes. Then followed Rutter, Andrews, Richards, Bridewell, Mason, Seeley, Walker, Gowland, Tunstall, Linfoot (Node 4 Yamaha) and Mainwaring (Maxxis Yamaha). In 19th was James Hillier, in place of Tristan Palmer on the second Buildbase Kawasaki. James is a former R6 Cup race winner and British Supersport runner.

Conditions were fully dry for the final race, although at this stage the sky suggested that rain was threatening. Easton led away, from Hill and Brookes, but with the Honda one-two-three spoiled when Josh had a moment on the kerbs and let Camier past. However, on the inside at Cascades a big highside crash for Andrews, sending him to the outside and involving Seeley, meant a red flag.

These two were not present for the restart, which saw Hill take the lead from team-mate Easton on the inside for Old Hall. Stuart also lost out to Camier, on the inside at Cascades - where soon after Rutter would crash, but without stopping the race. Ellison also found his way past Easton, who now headed Walker, Brookes, Laverty, Richards, Guintoli, Lowry, da Costa, Gowland, Mason, Bridewell, Linfoot, Tunstall and Jessopp. Brookes was quick to move past Walker.

Easton recovered his place from Ellison, who would then come under attack from Brookes. This change came with a move on the inside for Old Hall. Meanwhile, Camier had already gone into the lead, passing Hill on the inside at Lodge, and was starting to pull away. A new fastest lap brought third man Easton onto the tail of team-mate Hill, but before he could get past and chase after Camier, Stuart made a rare mistake and clipped the inside kerb for the right at Brittens chicane, and he went down.

Camier now had a handy lead over Hill, with new third man Brookes already out of touch. The Australian had been shadowed by Ellison, but then the Yamaha slowed and James had to pull across out of the way. Whatever the problem he was then able to continue again, but any chance of a podium was lost. By now, Michael Howarth was out on the STP MV Agusta, as was Hillier in his third BSB race.

The closing stages saw Camier extend his advantage for yet another 2009 race win, with Hill a best yet for the year of second, and Brookes also a clear podium finisher. Laverty had got past Walker for sixth, which became fifth, and then he lost out to Guintoli at Lodge. Lowry was also going well, and he was next through ahead of Laverty. From sixth, John managed to replicate Easton’s crash on the penultimate lap. The last lap saw Lowry take fourth place from Guintoli.

Taking sixth was da Costa, who had passed both Richards (eighth) and Walker (seventh). Cup winning Bridewell was ninth, from Mason, Gowland, Ellison, Tunstall, Mainwaring, Linfoot, Jessopp and Zanotti. The absence of Harris from the scoresheets at Oulton, the circuit where he has had most success, saw him drop from eighth in the table to fourteenth, due to a close contest behind the top seven.

Fittingly, Leon Camier had won both races on the final day of BSB 2009, with a second place the day before. For the 23-year-old it had been a record-breaking season. 19 race wins is the best so far for a BSB season, as is nine pole positions. 22 podium results was not quite as good as John Reynolds managed in 2001, but they might have been equal if not for Leon’s exclusion at Cadwell Park. He did overtake JR’s points record. For Airwaves Yamaha there were 23 wins, a dominant performance that outdid any previous records for Yamaha in BSB, but also improved on anything GSE Racing had done previously with Ducati machinery.

Other than Camier and James Ellison, only two men had won BSB races in 2009 - Sylvain Guintoli and Stuart Easton. The French rider’s momentum had been halted at round three, when he was the innocent victim in a crash that broke his right leg. With a long lay-off, his championship challenge was over. But Easton had his best BSB form in a consistent season that, without Camier, might easily have rewarded him with more than two victories. Like it was for Guintoli, it was an interrupted season for many riders, not least for Michael Rutter, who raced for five different teams with five makes of bike. There was certainly no shortage of interest and action, and we will hope for more next season. A review of the 2009 season will follow.

Final standings after twenty-six races:
1 Leon Camier (Yamaha) 549.5
2 James Ellison (Yamaha) 413
3 Stuart Easton (Honda) 374
4 Joshua Brookes (Honda) 188
5 Ian Lowry (Suzuki) 170
6 Simon Andrews (Kawasaki) 163.5
7 Julien da Costa (Kawasaki) 163
8 Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki) 147
9 Chris Walker (Yamaha) 141
10 John Laverty (Kawasaki) 130.5
11 Tommy Hill (Suzuki, Honda) 127
12 Gary Mason (Honda) 125
= Glen Richards (Honda) 125
14 Karl Harris (Honda, Yamaha) 124.5
15 Graeme Gowland (Yamaha) 101.5

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