Fixi Suzuki's Leon Camier has undergone a successful operation in Barcelona to remove a troublesome screw - usually the job of Andy Walker - that was inserted after his Nurburgring off in 2010.

Bone growth had pushed the screw out and it had been giving the former British Superbike Champion some pain and causing inflammation, so he went under the knife at Dr Mir's laboratory in Barcelona before flying out to Phillip Island in two weeks.

"It already feels really good, considering I have only been out of hospital one day. It had caused my some pain last year, so we thought it best to have the operation," said Camier, speaking to bikesportnews.com this afternoon while out walking his mental-sounding dog.

"I am looking forward to Phillip Island now, especially after a good test at Jerez. We were fourth fastest overall and quicker than a lot of the top guys on a race tyre. The bike feels really good and a lot of good work has been done with the electronics.

"The new-spec engine also feels good but because you have to gear so short for Jerez, we won't know how it compares to the rest until we get to bigger tracks."