Fixi Suzuki's Leon Camier looked on course to give himself World Superbike pole position as a 26th birthday present at Silverstone this afternoon but he was denied by a last-ditch effort from Jakub Smrz.

The 2009 British Superbike Champion, who has struggled with an underpowered engine in the GSX-R1000 this season, will still start from the front row for this first time this year and says a good qualification performance has been a long time coming.

“With Superpole coming to a close, I really thought that I had won it because there was so little time remaining, but then Smrz went faster and ruined my birthday! Although winning Superpole would’ve been good, it’s a great feeling to be on the front row of the grid at last," said Camier.

"It’s been a long time coming, but we always believed we could do it. The boys have worked so hard to make the bike better and the improvements in the engine and the electronics have allowed me to be competitive again. My race pace has been good in the wet and the dry and we’ve got good set-ups for both conditions. So, if it is either dry or wet, we’re ready! I hope it’s going to be dry because I think the racing will be better and it’ll be good for the fans as well.”