Camier tackles the Silverstone circuit in what proved a challenging weekend. Picture: James Yarwood

I can't believe we’ve just had round nine of this year’s World Superbike series.

It only seems like yesterday we were at a cold, bleak Donington but that was in March and what a contrast last weekend’s weather was for the Silverstone round – warm sunshine made the free practice and qualifying pleasant and my works Alitalia-sponsored Aprilia RSV1000 felt good as we went into the superpole qualifiers.

Although Silverstone has been vastly modified and resurfaced, when you get on to the old parts it is still fairly bumpy, which isn’t conducive to the handling of the Aprilia.

Earlier in free practice, wildcard rider and ex-MotoGP star American John Hopkins put in a blistering pace on his BSB Samsung Crescent Suzuki to clock the fastest time. Once in superpole, it counted for nothing but it was a warning shot to other riders that he wasn’t just making up the numbers.

The first superpole qualifier involved the fastest 16 riders and within two minutes my team-mate, Max Biaggi, parted from his Aprilia as the front tucked under him taking one of the corners.

As the clock zeroed, I’d got through to the second qualifier by getting a 10th position and the 10-minute second session saw me second fastest before I ended the final session in third – my best spot of the season. But the man to beat was Hopkins, who put his Suzuki on pole with Eugene Laverty (Yamaha) in second.

As Sunday’s race one got underway, I was pushed wide on the third corner relegating me down to ninth. By the end of lap one, I’d made up two places, while up front, Laverty was leading the pack with Hopkins second and Carlos Checa third.

It was stringing out as a seven-bike pack and with five laps gone I’d moved up to sixth passing Leon Haslam, while up front Checa took the lead. On the next lap I got past Marco Melandri to take fifth and with nine laps remaining, I finally got past Hopkins – who was proving difficult to pass – to get into third.

The next rider was Laverty but he was four seconds ahead of me and the laps were beginning to tumble.

I just didn’t have enough time to close the gap but three laps from the end, electrical gremlins struck and I slid down the order finally crossing the line 15th. I was not happy.

Checa took first, Laverty was second and Melandri came in third.

The second race saw me get into second by the first corner chasing Laverty, with Checa close behind in third. For four laps I managed to keep the booming Ducati of Checa behind me but on lap five he slipped past into second.

On the next lap he passed Laverty to take the lead, while I was trying to get into a rhythm to maintain third but with three laps left, my rear tyre was beginning to lose grip and Melandri squeezed past me into third and then on the final lap my team-mate Biaggi also got past me relegating me to fifth – that’s how it finished, Checa winning, Laverty second and Melandri third.