Going into last weekend’s first Superpole qualifier at the fantastic Phillip Island track in Australia wasn’t too good for me.

Although my works Aprilia RSV4 felt good, I’d been feeling weak in the previous couple of days’ testing and had been diagnosed with possible glandular fever, which resulted in me missing most of the practice prior to the Superpole qualifying.

In the second qualifying practice, I lost out by just one position for the Superpole, qualifying in 17th position, which put me on the fifth row of the grid for the race proper.

Team-mate Max Biaggi managed to qualify in second aboard his Alitalia Aprilia RSV4, just behind Carlos Checa, who grabbed pole and this season is again riding the Althea Ducati. Checa had been top of all the practice and qualifying rounds.

During the night prior to race day, the heavens opened and we had torrential rain but by race one the circuit had dried out.

With the lights going out for the first race of 2011, I could feel that the 22-lapper was going to be tough.

Initially Biagga tore into the lead but from the second row, Eugene Laverty (Sterilgarda Yamaha) overtook Max to lead the first lap.

It wasn’t too long before Checa got past Eugene to take a commanding lead.

I was just trying to pace myself and started to take a few positions in front of me.

Checa won from Biaggi with Leon Haslam (BMW) third.

I came in 13th and considering how I felt, I wasn’t too disappointed. With a couple of hours’ break before race two, I went back to my motorhome and rested.

For the start of race two, I was feeling marginally better and started to plan out my moves.

I began to pass other riders and with eight laps left, I’d moved up to 12th.

The bike was behaving well, which was not how the rider was feeling and toward the end of the race, I had to dig deep.

On the final lap I managed to get past two riders and crossed the line in sixth, a finish I hadn’t thought was possible considering how I felt.

Race two was dominated by Checa, again on his Ducati, with Biaggi in second and Marco Melandri (Sterilgarda Yamaha) in third.

Well, that’s the first race out of the way and to come away with 13 points and be 11th position overall, I’ll take it at this stage of the season!

Now I have four weeks before the next meeting and will be getting blood tests, etc done to get accurately diagnosed and hopefully get over the illness.

The next race is at Donington Park in the UK over the weekend of March 25-27, hope to see you there!

Results: Race 1: 1 Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1098R; 2 Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4; 3 Leon Haslam GBR BMW Motorrad S1000RR.

Race 2: 1 Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1098R; 2 Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4; 3 Marco Melandri ITA Yamaha WSBK YZF R1.

To find out more about Leon Camier visitwww.leon-camier.net