Leon Camier has taken his maiden British Superbike victory in superb style after resisting a thrilling last lap charge by team-mate Shane Byrne.
Signalling his long awaited first triumph at BSB level, Camier shared the lead of the race with Leon Haslam for much of the time but it was Byrne who provided the sternest challenge to his victory hopes.
Indeed, in a race that saw the top five barely separated throughout the 21 lap event, Byrne had made stealthy progress up the order after a disappointing start but launched an attack on Camier in final lap by trying to slip up the inside at the end of the Revett Straight.
However, while that failed, Camier entered the Esses too deep and ran wide, providing the invitation for Byrne to dive up the inside for that looked like would be a seventh win of the season.
Nonetheless, despite team orders being laid down by the team, Camier hit right back by slipping down the inside again at the Bombehole. Seemingly catching Byrne by surprise as they came close to contact, Camier went back through and just resisted the championship leader through the Russell Chicane to win by a mere 0.092secs.
Marking the final act of an exciting race, Camier and Byrne were thrilled to deliver Airwaves Ducati a 1-2 finish on the weekend that their 1098s are carrying an additional 10kg of weight.
Up to that point, it looked like the win was being disputed by Camier and Haslam. Making the most of being on the inside of the front row Haslam and Camier got the jump on their rivals heading into the first turn, with the HM Plant Honda assuming the advantage.
Camier was on a charge though and slipstreamed past Haslam at the end of the Revett Straight on lap four before pulling out a comfortable advantage over Haslam. Nonetheless, the Honda rider was determined to fight back and slowly, but surely, reeled Camier back in. Going on to repeat Camier's move on him earlier in the race, Haslam regained the lead with only five laps remaining.
