Camier set to grit teeth for home round return

Leon Camier says he must take his injury comeback “session by session” at Donington Park as he tackles his World Superbike return from broken ribs for Red Bull Honda.

Camier has been absent after crashing during race one at Aragon and being unfortunately struck by MV Agusta’s Jordi Torres in which he sustained three broken ribs.

While being immediately ruled out of the Assen round, the British rider attempted an initial comeback at Imola two weeks ago but after taking part in the opening two practice sessions he had to withdraw due to the pain impacting his riding.

Camier is eager to get back into action this weekend at his home round at Donington Park and while feeling stronger since the Italian round accepts he must gradually build up to his return.

“I’m getting better slowly, it is a very different injury than I’ve had before,” Camier said. “I’ve never done ribs properly so it is a lot slower and more boring that I thought.

“After the first few days I made massive progress so I thought I was going to be over it instantly. My breathing got better as the ribs would work a lot better with my lungs so I could breathe properly but then the pain would stay there so when I trained or tried to do something you are buckled up. It is the weirdest injured I’ve had.

“We’ve got to see if I can ride. I feel better when training than before Imola but at the same time it is only six weeks on from the injury and they say it is still really early.”

The Red Bull Honda rider also says he won’t be riding pain-free at Donington Park but is fully focused on doing everything possible to manage his discomfort to race alongside teammate Jake Gagne.

“Although I'm still in some pain, I feel better in training and my lung capacity has come on quite a lot so I feel that physically I'm in a better place than I was in Imola,” he said. “I'll only really know how much better my condition is once I get on my Fireblade, but the goal for me and the team is to try and get through the whole race weekend.”

It is thought Honda are without a reserve rider for the British roudn after initial replacement Jason O’Halloran suffered a leg injury at Imola while stepping in for the Camier and O’Halloran’s Honda BSB teammate Dan Linfoot is also recovering from a neck injury.