“The times are very close, I am only half a second away from the pole setter, James Westmoreland and to be honest, fifth is good for me as I will start right behind pole and if I can get off the line well then I should be in a strong position at Turn One.”

True to his word Steve was away to a flyer but his efforts were all in vain as the race was red flagged because of an incident at the first corner.

At the re-start Steve was promoted up to the front row but was bumped back to seventh in the first corner melee. He began to claw his way back up the order and became embroiled in a battle for fourth place in the middle of a pack of five riders.

As the race progressed Steve fought his way past James Webb and one lap later caught and passed Paul Young. By mid race distance he began to make a break to hunt down the leading three riders and latched onto the back of the third placed rider on lap 14 of 16.

He took James Westmoreland on the penultimate lap and made the same move on Dan Linfoot at the next corner to ease into second place.

Although he was very near to the race leader he ran out of time and crossed the finish line just three tenths of a second behind McConnell.

“Second place will do for me today,” said Steve. “If we had another lap I would have made it through to the front but it wasn’t to be. Its been a busy weekend for me having to fly back and forth to the Isle of Man for TT practice and to be in a position to claim second place at Thruxton is a good result for me given the circumstances.”

“I am running in second place and only two points away from the series lead. Once the TT is out of the way I will be in a position to concentrate all my attention on the British championship and hopefully secure both the race win and series lead next time out.”

The next round is at Snetterton in Norfolk and the scene of his first race win of the 2008 season. If he can repeat that on June 21st he will move into the lead in the 2009 championship.

Steve completed his qualifying in fifth position at Thruxton for a second row start to the fourth round of the Fuchs/Silkolene British Supersport championship here he currently holds a slim four point advantage at the top of the leaderboard.

Commenting on his qualifying result Steve said: “The times are very close, I am only half a second away from the pole setter, James Westmoreland and to be honest, fifth is good for me as I will start right behind pole and if I can get off the line well then I should be in a strong position at Turn One.”

It’s been a hectic weekend so far as Steve left the circuit directly after the final qualifying session at Thruxton and headed off to the airport to catch a flight to the Isle of Man where he was to take part in the first night of practice in preparation for the forthcoming TT races.

Conditions were perfect on the island and Steve was greeted by blue skies and warm sun. He got his first taste of action shortly after 7pm when he took the HM Plant Honda Superbike out for a blast around the 37.73-mile TT course. He completed four laps of the gruelling mountain road course and was clocked through the Sulby Straight speed trap at 183.9mph.

“I enjoyed my first practice,” said Steve . “Conditions were near enough perfect except for the abundance of flies and bugs that attached themselves to the bike and my visor. It was also a bit dusty out there and as the evening wore on, the sun became a bit of a problem as it was very low in the sky. Apart from that, the bike ran well and it was a successful first test.”

After a welcome night’s sleep Plater headed back to Thruxton where he arrived well in time for morning warm up where he completed the 10-minute session in fourth position ahead of this afternoon's 14-lap race.