Leon Camier

Leon Stuart Camier (born 4 August 1986 in Ashford, Kent, England) is a British motorcycle racer from Ashford, Kent, resident in Bournemouth. He was the 2005 British Supersport and 2009 British Superbike Champion. 2010 was his first season in the World Superbike series.

Personal life

Camier is the son of David and Katie. His distant paternal ancestors were French Huguenots although several generations of the family lived in Cork, Ireland. His appreciation of the music of Jack Johnson has been mentioned on ITV's racing coverage. He also enjoys the likes of System of a Down and Linkin Park. At 6'2", he is tall for his profession which has its disadvantages over advantages, significantly. According to ITV's coverage, he has a habit of walking around circuits the evening before races with the aim of spotting extra details about the track. This is a habit picked up from his Grasstrack days where this behaviour is usual. His nickname is Shafter. As well as racing, Leon also enjoyed playing football as a youngster (playing for an Ashford based club called Bliby).

Early career

After beginning Grasstrack racing aged 6 and winning five British championships, Camier became British Junior 80 cc Road Racing champion in 1998. He won the British 125 cc title in 2001 and the British Supersport crown in 2005.^[1] This period built a working relationship with Honda which included contesting the 2005 Suzuka 8 Hours race in 2005 at the age of 18^[2] (unusually young for a non-Japanese rider).

British Superbike Championship (2007–2009)

2007 was his first season in the British Superbike Championship on a Bike Animal Honda. He led the first corners of his very first race and was on the podium in the first three races. A crash in race 6 at Silverstone and two eighth places at Oulton Park damaged his momentum however. At Snetterton, a bike failure in qualifying saw him start 29th but he moved up to 6th in both races amidst Honda dominance. His season ended with a huge crash at Cadwell Park causing a broken left femur and right pelvis.^[3]

For 2008 he joined the GSE Airwaves Ducati team alongside former champion Shane 'Shaky' Byrne. He finished fifth overall, taking his first three wins.

For 2009 GSE switched to Yamahas and James Ellison joined as him team-mate. Camier quickly dominated the series, winning even more races than Byrne had in 2008. He clinched the title with four races to go fittingly by overtaking closest rival Ellison on the penultimate lap of race 1 at Silverstone. Immediately on returning to the pits he was greeted by Niall Mackenzie (the last man to win the BSB title on a Yamaha) decked out in his original 1998 Rob Mac Cadbury's Boost leathers. Camier ultimately won a record-breaking 18 races despite only leading out of the first corner twice. His success led to the organisers of the series to adopt the "Matt Kenseth Rule" for 2010. This revised the points system to the split-season format popularly used by saloon-car series in the United States.

World Superbikes (2009–2012)

After winning the title, Camier was invited to join the Aprilia squad in the Superbike World Championship for the final two races of the season, replacing the injured Shinya Nakano.^[4] His first meeting at Magny-Cours saw him qualify 16th improving to set the fourth fastest warm-up time. Unfortunately, two technical problems meant he took no points. However in the last meeting of the season at Portimao, Camier finished 6th and 7th.

Camier raced full-time with Aprilia in World Superbike in 2010. He finished second to team-mate Max Biaggi in race two at Miller Motorsport Park, giving Aprilia their first 1–2 in the series.^[5] At his home round at Silverstone, Camier started 16th but fought back to finish sixth and third in the two races.^[6]

Career statistics

Stats correct as of 28 September 2012

All Time

Total		186	9	51	26	14	13	19	2
Series	Years Active	Races	Poles	Podiums	Wins	2nd place	3rd place	Fast Laps	Titles
British Supersport Championship	^2004–06	37	0	13	4	5	4	0	1
Supersport World Championship	²⁰⁰⁶	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
British Superbike Championship	^2007–09	69	9	31	22	6	5	18	1
Superbike World Championship	^2009-	79	0	7	0	3	4	1	0

By championship

British Supersport Championship

Yr	Class	Team	SIL	BHI	SNE	OUL	MON	SNE	BHGP	KNO	MAL	CRO	CAD	OUL	DON	Pos	Pts	Ref
2004	BSS	Honda	5	Ret	Ret	6	8	2	Ret		3	2	Ret	4	15	7th	99	^[7]

Yr	Class	Team	BHI	THR	MAL	OUL	MON	CRO	KNO	SNE	SIL	CAD	OUL	DON	BHGP	Pos	Pts	Ref
2005	BSS	Honda	4	1	1	Ret	Ret	2	1	1	4	3	2	7	5	1st	202	^[8]

Yr	Class	Team	BHI	DON	THR	OUL	MON	MAL	SNE	KNO	OUL	CRO	CAD	SIL	BHGP	Pos	Pts	Ref
2006	BSS	Honda	5	Ret	4	Ret	Can	2	6	Ret	3	3	4	Ret	4	4th	112	^[9]

British Superbike Championship

Yr	Class	Team	BHGP		THR		SIL		OUL		SNE		MOP		KNO		OUL		MAL		CRO		CAD		DON		BHI		Pos	Pts	Ref
Yr	Class	Team	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	Pos	Pts	Ref
2007	BSB	Honda	2	3	2	5	4	Ret	8	8	5	6	7	6	Ret	7	6	5	8	11	7	5	Ret	DNS					8th	199	^[10]

Yr	Class	Team	THR		OUL		BHGP		DON		SNE		MAL		OUL		KNO		CAD		CRO		SIL		BHI		Pos	Pts	Ref
Yr	Class	Team	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	Pos	Pts	Ref
2008	BSB	Ducati	5	4	3	3	5	3	5	4	1	2	Ret	8	Inj	Inj	5	8	4	4	1	5	1	4	5	3	5th	306	^[11]

Yr	Class	Team	BHI		OUL		DON		THR		SNE		KNO		MAL		BHGP			CAD		CRO		SIL		OUL			Pos	Pts	Ref
Yr	Class	Team	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R3	Pos	Pts	Ref
2009	BSB	Yamaha	4	1	1	1	1	12	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	EX	6	1	1	2	2	1	1	1st	549.5	^[12]

Supersport World Championship

Yr	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos	Pts
2006	Honda	QAT	AUS	SPA	ITA	EUR	SMR	CZE	GBR 6	NED	GER	ITA	FRA	32nd	6

Superbike World Championship

Year	Make	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		13		14		Pos	Pts
Year	Make	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	Pos	Pts
2009	Yamaha	AUS	AUS	QAT	QAT	SPA	SPA	NED	NED	ITA	ITA	RSA	RSA	USA	USA	SMR	SMR	GBR 13	GBR 6											20th	32
2009	Aprilia																			CZE	CZE	GER	GER	ITA	ITA	FRA Ret	FRA Ret	POR 6	POR 7	20th	32
2010		AUS 11	AUS 11	POR 5	POR 5	SPA Ret	SPA Ret	NED 3	NED Ret	ITA 5	ITA 4	RSA 6	RSA Ret	USA 4	USA 2	SMR 6	SMR 11	CZE Ret	CZE 8	GBR 6	GBR 3	GER DNS	GER DNS	ITA	ITA	FRA	FRA			12th	164
2011		AUS 13	AUS 6	EUR 8	EUR 3	NED Ret	NED 4	ITA 8	ITA Ret	USA 4	USA 2	SMR 6	SMR Ret	SPA 3	SPA 8	CZE 7	CZE Ret	GBR 15	GBR 5	GER 8	GER Ret	ITA 15	ITA 3	FRA 4	FRA 6	POR 12	POR 6			6th	208
2012	Suzuki	AUS 17	AUS 12	ITA Ret	ITA 8	NED Ret	NED 14	ITA C	ITA 15	EUR 9	EUR 4	USA 13	USA 11	SMR 10	SMR 15	SPA 9	SPA Ret	CZE 14	CZE 9	GBR Ret	GBR Ret	RUS 15	RUS 5	GER 5	GER 2	POR 11	POR Ret	FRA Ret	FRA 10	14th	115.5
2013	Suzuki	AUS 9	AUS 9	SPA DNS	SPA DNS	NED 9	NED 7	ITA 9	ITA 7	GBR Ret	GBR 13	POR 4	POR Ret	ITA 7	ITA 7	RUS 9	RUS C	GBR 3	GBR 5	GER Ret	GER DNS	TUR DNS	TUR DNS	USA	USA	FRA	FRA	SPA 8	SPA 6	11th	132

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Pos	Pts
2002	125cc	Italjet	JPN	RSA	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT 24	NED 28	GBR 24	GER	CZE	POR	BRA	PAC	MAL	AUS	VAL	NC	0
2003	125cc	Honda	JPN 26	RSA Ret	SPA 30	FRA 24	ITA 30	CAT 27	NED Ret	GBR Ret	GER 23	CZE	POR	BRA	PAC	MAL	AUS	VAL	NC	0

References

↑ Motorcycle Racing Online – Leon Camier scoops 2005 British Supersport crown. F1network.net. Retrieved on 27 August 2011.
↑ CAMIER TURNING JAPANESE: News from Leon Camier. Biker247.com (3 August 2005). Retrieved on 27 August 2011.
↑ Pinchin, Gary. (28 August 2007) British Superbikes: Leon Camier's operation a success – | Motorcycle Sport | WSB | BSB | MotoGP | TT & Road races | MCN. Motorcyclenews.com. Retrieved on 27 August 2011.
↑ "Camier to replace Nakano at Aprilia". VisorDown (Magicalia Ltd.). 29 September 2009. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
↑ "Aprilia savours new landmark result". crash.net (Crash Media Group). 2 June 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
↑ "Camier shows fighting spirit with 16th to podium". crash.net (Crash Media Group). 2 August 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
↑
↑ Camier scoops Supersport title | BSB News | Oct 2005. Crash.Net (13 October 2005). Retrieved on 27 August 2011.
↑
↑ Airwaves Ducati Back In BSB With Byrne & Camier. Londonbikers.com (7 November 2007). Retrieved on 27 August 2011.
↑ http://www.britishsuperbike.com/teams/airwaves-yamaha.aspx
↑ BSB: Camier celebrates BSB championship title – British Superbikes – BSB Blog – Mirror.co.uk. Blogs.mirror.co.uk (27 September 2009). Retrieved on 27 August 2011.

External links

Persondata
Name	Camier, Leon
Alternative names
Short description	British motorcycle racer
Date of birth	4 August 1986
Place of birth	Ashford, Kent
Date of death
Place of death

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