Steve Plater 2008

Third Place For Steve In Scunthorpe Christmas Cracker

Steve rounded off his year with a fine third place in the annual Scunthorpe Silkolene Pozzani Shorttrack Christmas Cracker at Scunthorpe Raceway on Saturday – a fitting end to an amazing and successful year of motorcycle racing for the Steve.

Steve’s final outing of 2008 was the Shorttrack Christmas Cracker where he is a regular competitor and last year completed the course in sixth place. However he had set his sights on a podium finish this time and did not disappoint.

Event organizer Pete Boast provided Steve with a Honda CRF450 bike and despite the tricky conditions he was quick to adapt, he won two of the three heats and was second in the third, which gave him sufficient points to earn himself a front row start to his semi-final - which he won - before taking on the cream of the crop in the 12-lap final.

By this time the weather and track conditions had deteriorated further but Steve rode a tremendous race, battling throughout with Tim Greig and completed his race in third place to continue his run of podium finishes. The top three riders were presented with their trophies by 1993 World Speedway Champ Sam Ermolenko. Peter Boast took first place with Greig second and Steve third.

“That was great fun,” said the ever-smiling Steve. “I have supported the Christmas Cracker meeting here at Scunthorpe for a number of years now and as usual have thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

“Pete Boast built the bike especially for me. It’s lowered to work like a dirttrack bike and has got R6 forks. Luckily we had some spare wheels so we were able to fit a trails rear tyre and motocross front to suit the conditions.

“I was hoping for a win or at least a second behind Peter Boast but it just didn’t quite work out for me. Third is my best result to date so maybe next year I can come back and beat the two top boys at their own game!”

Steve also competed in the Slipstream M/cycles 150 x Trail Flatttrack Best pairs (just a laugh for Xmas on the bikes the lads use for indoor training), which proved to be very enjoyable and entertaining for the crowd. Winners were Glyn Pocklington / Karl Harris; second place went to Pete Boast / Steve with Tom Woolley / Paul Cooper rounding off the top three.

The 2008 racing season saw Steve find success in all categories of his sport. He notched up three wins at the North West 200 road races in Ireland followed by a win in the Isle of Man TT races where he notched up his maiden victory in the Junior TT. He also competed in the World Endurance championship taking a well earned win in the final round at Doha to complete the season in second place. Following his success on the road, Steve turned his attention to the British Supersport class and with two wins, two second places and a third from the races he contested, he ended the year in fifth position.

Next season sees the Lincolnshire rider enter a new phase of his outstanding career. He is to ride for the Louth based HM Plant Honda team and will contest the North West 200, Isle of Man TT and the British Supersport championship for the team.