GSE hands Yamaha BSB title victory

With two rounds and five races remaining in the 2009 MCE British Superbike Championship, GSE Racing - which runs Airwaves Yamaha - has clinched the manufacturers' title for Yamaha and is guaranteed to win the riders' crown with either Leon Camier or James Ellison.

Although there are other Yamaha teams on the BSB grid, the factory-backed Airwaves squad has provided the top R1 in every race - and Yamaha's 2009 manufacturers' title has therefore been built solely on GSE points.

With a maximum of 125 points still up for grabs between now and the end of the season, Yamaha has a 127.5 lead over nearest rival Honda. 2009 is the first year of the GSE/Yamaha partnership.

"To come away from Croft with a fifth BSB championship and Yamaha's first for eleven years is absolutely awesome, I cannot thank the guys and girls in the team enough," said team manager Colin Wright.

"We have enjoyed an amazing run of success since 1999 and I'm so very proud of all those that have made it happen, the records we have achieved over the last 10 years are unlikely to be matched.

"Therefore, GSE Racing will be known as the most successful British racing team for many years to come. The only question is, will we be in a position to break records in 2010 and beyond?"

But whilst the team itself might be celebrating its fifth BSB crown, the identity of their champion is yet to be officially decided.

Camier of course is the overwhelming favourite, holding a 99.5 point lead over Ellison with a maximum of 125 points remaining, but his race one scare at Croft on Sunday - when he ran off-track after an overoptimistic pass - proved anything can happen.

"The mistake was 100% my fault," he admitted. "I was pushing too hard to get past and was 16km/h faster than I should have been! Once I got back on track I got my head down and tried to work my way through the field. It was pretty tough to pass out there so I'm pleased to have got as high as I did and get some more championship points."

After recovering to sixth, Camier made amends with his 16th victory of the season in race two: "I got an ok start to Race Two, for a change. From there, everything went to plan. A massive thank you to the whole team. The YZF-R1 worked amazingly all weekend."

Ellison had clawed back points on Camier with second place behind Hydrex Honda's Stuart Easton in race one, but was a frustrated fourth in race two.

"I had a good start to the first race. Early on I thought Leon must have made a mistake so I knew I had a chance to score some good points," he said. "I was pushing really hard to try and pass Stuart Easton but on the last lap there were yellow flags exactly where I wanted to pass. I tried one last time at the hairpin but didn't have enough power to make anything stick.

"I had a nightmare start in race two and got stuck behind quite a few people. I'm pretty disappointed not to get on the podium again but I'm really happy that Airwaves Yamaha has wrapped up the championship."