Team Suzuki Press Office – October 15. FIXI Crescent Suzuki heads to the final round of the 2013 eni FIM Superbike World Championship with its usual rider line-up as Leon Camier returns to the fold after missing the last two events.
Camier seriously injured his right foot in a crash in Turkey last month, which required surgery to repair seven broken bones. The Englishman has undergone a comprehensive recuperation programme to regain his fitness and hopes to pass the trackside medical on Thursday at Jerez to enable him to compete in this weekend’s event on his Yoshimura-powered Suzuki GSX-R. Camier has never raced at Jerez before and is determined to put this season’s troubles behind him and produce a positive performance in Spain.
Jules Cluzel is again one of the few riders heading towards this new inclusion on the Superbike calendar with experience of the track. He raced there in the 125cc, 250cc and Moto2™ classes of the MotoGP™ championship between 2006 and 2011. He will undoubtedly put this experience to good use during the early sessions of the weekend and will hope that this knowledge will stand him in good stead to bring his first season in the World Superbike class to a fitting conclusion.
The Circuito de Jerez is situated in the Andalucian region of Spain, deep in the heart of the country’s Sherry-producing area. This will be the first time that World Superbikes has visited the 4,423m track since 1990, but will find a very different circuit to the one that was raced on back then. With changes to the layout for safety reasons, the venue has lost none of its appeal since and still produces great racing due to its undulating layout, hard-braking corners and endless camber changes. The Jerez track is one of the best spectator circuits on the calendar due to its numerous grandstands providing near-perfect viewing facilities and will provide a fitting venue for this season’s finale, which sees Tom Sykes heading to Spain as championship leader, but with his two nearest challengers still in with a chance of taking the title.
This season’s final World Superbike action will get underway on Friday morning with the first free practice session, followed by the opening qualifying period in the afternoon. Saturday morning will have a second qualifying session to confirm the riders that will progress towards that afternoon’s Superpole. The penultimate race of 2013 will get underway at 12.00hrs local time (11.00hrs BST) with the climax to the season scheduled for 15.30hrs local time (14.30hrs BST).
Leon Camier:
“I have made massive progress with the foot and even surprised the doctors, because most of them said I wouldn’t make it back for Jerez. My foot is still a bit swollen, but it is improving all the time and it’s just my general fitness that I need to work on, so although I need to rest to help the recovery I also need to be getting in lots of exercise – which means I’m a bit caught between the two. I have to get the balance right and I won’t be anywhere near full fitness in Spain, but I will be close enough to ride and then we’ll have to see what happens from there. I will need to take a medical at Jerez, but don’t think that will be a problem as I can now put my weight on the foot and I’ve done a bit of Trials and Enduro riding, so I know it’s working ok. I’ve only tested at Jerez before and I’m really looking forward to going there at the weekend and being involved at the last race of the season.”
Jules Cluzel:
“I’m looking forward to getting to Jerez and hopefully we’ll have some nice sunny weather to finish off the season. I have raced at Jerez many times before and done lots of testing there because it was used as a test track for some of the teams I raced for. It was also the second place that I rode the FIXI Crescent Suzuki in pre-season testing, so I also have some knowledge of how the bike works there. I really want to finish off the year in a good way and give my crew a good result, because they really deserve it for all their hard work this season.”
