A return to action for Leon Camier at Magny-Cours round of the Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) resulted in him delivering Honda’s best result of the 2019 season with a seventh-place finish in race one.

Camier had been absent with a shoulder injury sustained at Imola earlier in the year, however, his comeback was a welcome one for the Moriwaki Althea Honda Team in France.

“I pushed as hard as I could and did as much as I could, even though I was struggling in some areas, especially at the end,” he said. “My shoulder was fine, it was more my hands and arms, having not used them for a long time. By the end of the race, mainly in the changes of direction, I was hanging on by my fingertips and it was challenging, because you need good control in that area.

“There were also some damp patches on the asphalt. Anyway, I managed not to make any big mistakes and we scored a result that’s not too bad. I feel like the bike has improved in a couple of areas and the handling was also better – this was another of the day’s positives.”

Sunday saw Camier ride to ninth position after getting the better of Pedercini Kawasaki’s Jordi Torres, continuing his decent run of form despite only managing 16th position in the Superpole race earlier in the day.

“This track is a physical one, at least on the arms, and coming back after four months away definitely doesn’t make it any easier,” he added. “We made a few little changes to the bike and I felt more comfortable in race two.

“I made quite a good start and was in a good group and I rode as hard as I could for as long as I could, managing to hold off [Jordi] Torres and a few other riders. So, all in all, I think the race went okay for us – we identified various areas where we think we can improve and we’ll try and do that in the remaining races.”

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Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista has acknowledged that a second race incident with Toprak Razgatlioglu in France wasn’t what cost him the 2019 Superbike World Championship.

The Spaniard finished fifth in race one at Magny-Cours – a circuit new to the 34-year-old – but was involved in an early crash with Saturday victor Razgatlioglu in race two.

Those developments enabled now five-time WorldSBK champion Jonathan Rea to go on and clinch this year’s crown for Kawasaki with two rounds to spare, despite Bautista’s miraculous start to the season of 11-straight wins. He has 15 wins in total during his rookie season.

“Fortunately, physically I’m okay after the crash, I’m just a bit disappointed because I think in race two I was able to fight for the win,” Bautista reflected. “For sure, the weekend was tough, it was a new track that I’d never seen before and there was very little time to ride in dry conditions.

“Yesterday in the first race I managed to improve the feeling with the track and made up a lot of positions, while today in race two I made a good start and felt really good with the bike up at the front. Unfortunately, I was involved in Razgatlioglu’s crash at turn 13 and his mistake caused my retirement.

“It’s a pity to finish in this way, but it’s all part of racing. Congratulations to Jonathan Rea because he had a great season. During the championship Jonathan has always been able to get the best out of every situation and, for sure, we didn’t lose the title because of this race.”

Next year will see Bautista depart Ducati following a single season in WorldSBK together, recently confirmed to be joining Honda Racing Corporation in the Japanese company’s full factory return to the series.

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The conclusion of the current Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) season will see the separation of Yamaha and Alex Lowes following four years.

Lowes has been an integral part of Yamaha’s WorldSBK program since the Japanese manufacturer returned to the premier production racing series in 2016.

“I would like to start by saying thank you to Alex, not just for the success we have enjoyed together in WorldSBK and at Suzuka, but also for his commitment to Yamaha and our Superbike project,” explained Eric de Seynes, Yamaha Motor Europe president.

“It was a difficult decision not to continue with Alex in the same role for the 2020 season, but it was also our sincere hope that he would remain within the Yamaha family.

“We knew there was a risk and, unfortunately, that risk has turned out to be real and Alex will not be on a Yamaha next season. Working with Alex these past four years has been a real pleasure for me and on behalf of both Yamaha and myself I wish Alex every success for the future.”

The highlight of Lowes’ time with Yamaha undoubtedly came in 2018 at Brno in the Czech Republic, when the Briton got the better of his teammate in a closely-contested second race to take his first WorldSBK race win.

Yamaha and Lowes’ success extended further than just the WorldSBK paddock as he was also a key member of the Yamaha Factory Racing team that took three-consecutive victories at the prestigious Suzuka 8 Hours.

It’s understood that Lowes’ seat at Pata Yamaha will be filled by Turkish talent Toprak Razgatlioglu, while Lowes has been widely tipped to be joining five-time world champion Jonathan Rea at the Kawasaki Racing Team.