Battered Leon Camier rode through the pain of his injuries in the second World Superbike race at Magny-Cours yesterday after a huge highside in the opening encounter left him feeling fairly second0hand.

The former BSB Champion, who has signed on for another year with Paul Denning's team, got spat off his Fixi Suzuki in the tricky mixed conditions and ended up trapped beneath the GSX-R while signalling frantically for help from marshals.

"I am really happy with our performance in wet conditions, but race one was neither wet, nor dry and that is the worst possible scenario. All was going OK until I came out of turn 11 and was high-sided. I was flipped into the air and came down heavily on my left arm and head and then the bike landed on top of me and I couldn’t move. It seemed ages before it was removed and I was able to get up. I felt pretty sore, but luckily I hadn’t broken anything, even though my left arm had taken a right old battering," said Camier.

“The bike was in a bit of mess, but the boys did a great job to get it ready in time for race two and we lined up on the grid OK. Right from the start, I felt that the bike wasn’t quite right - not surprising really after its big crash - and it was difficult to ride. The electronics didn’t feel quite right and I didn’t get a great start, but I was determined to bring the bike home and that’s what I did.

"Although the season didn’t end the way I hoped, the progress the team have made with the bike makes me feel very optimistic about the future. The bike has come on leaps-and-bounds since the beginning of the season and I’m already looking forward to my next time on it - once I’ve rested my left arm a bit.”