Steve Plater 2008

3rd Place for Steve at Silverstone

Steve continued his run of podium finishes when he scored a third place in the penultimate round of the Fuchs/Silkolene British Supersport championship at Silverstone on Sunday.

Plagued with niggling problems with the AIM Yamaha Supersport machine throughout free practice and qualifying, Steve put the gremlins behind him to claim a second row start to his race in seventh position and as the lights went out he was quick to get off the line to move into fifth place at the first turn.

Just as he moved past Rob Frost into fourth the pace car was deployed which halted further progress and when the car left the circuit Frost briefly regained his position before crashing out of the race at Luffield.

Steve made steady progress and eventually passed the soon to be crowned champion Glen Richards on lap eight. The top four riders pulled clear of the pack and Steve looked to hunt down second place. But he made a slight mistake at the hairpin and lost the tow. He crossed the finish line in third place for his fourth podium finish of the current campaign and moved up the order from eighth to sixth place in the rider standings.

“I am satisfied with third place today,” said the ever-smiling Steve. © Helen Pask 2008

“We had a lot of problems throughout practice and qualifying but we managed to make a step forward in second qualifying and morning warm-up to make the bike good enough to get onto the podium, although we were never in a position to go for the win. But we can now look forward to Brands Hatch and hopefully we can win again there.”

The final round of the series is on the short and technical Brands Hatch circuit on October 12 when Steve will be looking to add to his clutch of podium finishes.

Steve is currently in talks with various teams regarding the British Championship, World Endurance, plus the Isle of Man TT and the North West 200 and is hoping to be in a position to finalise his 2009 plans by the end of October.

Silverstone Preview

Steve returns to domestic action at the weekend with a trip to Silverstone for the penultimate round of the Fuchs/Silkolene British Supersport championship where he will ride the AIM Yamaha R6 Supersport machine in round 11 of the series.

Steve won in his last outing in the series at Cadwell Park on August Bank Holiday Monday and he will be anxious for more of the same at Silverstone on Sunday.

Going into the race Steve is nestling at eighth position in the rider standings but having only contested four of the nine rounds to date this is not a true reflection of his performance.

The affable Lincolnshire rider suffered a non-finish at Oulton Park in July because of a mechanical failure but has completed the remaining three races with two wins and a second place. He came into the series at Snetterton having switch classes from the British Superbike championship and promptly scored a magnificent win following up with a second place at Mallory in the next round.

Because of a date clash with the World Endurance championship Steve was unable to contest either the Knockhill or Croft rounds of the British Supersport series but with no further clashes in the race calendar he will be out for more glory in the final two rounds at Silverstone and Brands Hatch to move further up the order in the final rider standings.

“The points really don’t matter as, having done less than half the series I am not in contention for the title. But I want to stand on the podium again this weekend, preferably the top step as I have finished up there in every race I have completed,” said Steve.

“I just hope we get some good weather so we can experience some close racing.”

Free practice takes place on Friday ahead of two qualifying periods on Saturday. The 18-lap British Supersport race lines up on the grid for a start at 3.35pm on Sunday and is broadcast live on British Eurosport 2 whose broadcast window is provisionally set for 12.30pm – 6pm on Sunday.