Having to sit out another test as he recuperates from left shoulder surgery, Leon Camier was at the Portimao WorldSBK test keeping an eye on progress as jobless Sandro Cortese took over the riding duties at Barni Ducati.
The former British Superbike king is trying everything he can to be fit in time for the Phillip Island season opener this time next month but isn’t yet certain whether he will be in good enough shape.
Speaking to bikesportnews.com in pitlane he he said of his condition: “Recovering. The shoulder is a pain in the arse, obviously the most complicated join in the body. There are so may little muscles you need to have it functioning right, to keep it balanced.
“Having the head of the numerus in the joint. It is pretty complicated and I can see Marc Marquez is struggling a bit with his one. It wasn’t as damaged but the recovery is not as good as the first one. This is a little bit the same.
It is really early, only one month after the operation, so it needs more time. Instantly after the operation it was incredible; I had good movement straight away. The doctor said he had never seen anything like it. But the more I try to do with it the worse it gets. I have to get all the inflammation out of it, and keep calm then try to do more training with it nearer Phillip Island.”
“I have lost a lot of muscle as you can imagine, and there is a lot of inflammation through the tendons and stuff. I sat on the bike yesterday and I felt like I would like to have a try, to ride around, but unless I am riding where I need to be riding at there is no point really. And if something happened again I would be even worse off.”
Realistically, Camier may have to miss Phillip Island, but he intends to be there if possible. “It is difficult to say at the moment but for sue the goal is to be back for that. I think I can. But you do not know until nearer the time with the shoulder.
“It is not a bone. It is a completely different recovery thing than a normal bone. A bone – you break it – you get oxygen around it you can push hard with a bon. This is not like that. It is hard and a different injury from what I had before. I had broken all the ligaments then, and had a false ligament put in.
“This time I broke this Coracoid process bone that is attached in there, broken tendons they had to stick all the tendons back on, re-locate the bicep tendon, stitch it back together. I broke the scaphoid. It is not simple and I need to give it some time to recovery and hopefully try and do some strength work and put a bit of muscle back on before PI. It is ongoing.
“The hard thing to judge is when it is going to be ready. It is a long year and if I have to miss races I have to miss them and then try and come back when it is ready. Ask Ben Spies… he tried to come back too early and f****d it for the rest of his life. I am better off not doing that.”
