 Steve scores three top five finishes in Ireland
Steve rode to three top five finishes at Bishopscourt in Ireland on Saturday when he scored a fifth and fourth place in the two Superbike races and fifth in the Sunflower Trophy race.
Having never seen the Bishopscourt circuit before let alone raced it Steve was optimistic of his chances but soon found his way around and qualified in fifth place for the two Superbike races, which unusually gave him a front row start as they lined up five to a row. He then went on to complete his qualifying for the Sunflower Trophy race in eighth place for a second row start to that 10-lap affair.
 The opening Superbike race saw Steve maintain his fifth place to cross the finish line just a tenth of a second behind Marty Nutt with AIM Racing teammate Guy Martin completing the 12 laps in seventh place.
Next up was the feature race of the day, the annual Sunflower Trophy, which again saw Steve take fifth place behind Marty Nutt with Guy Martin completing the 10 laps in sixth place.
The final Superbike race was a hard fought affair with Plater battling throughout with Tom Sykes. Places were exchanged throughout the race with Sykes just getting the advantage in the final stages to secure the final podium position of third leaving Steve to claim fourth place just 0.2 seconds behind.
“I came here with the intention of getting to know the AIM Racing Yamaha R1 and to prepare for the Macau GP on November 18. After all three races and a couple of practise sessions I am pleased with the way things have gone. I learned a lot over the weekend and although we still have a fair bit of work to do we are certainly going in the right direction.
 “The atmosphere here has been awesome. The fans were brilliant and because this is the first time I have returned to race in Ireland since winning the North West 200 races back in May I have been in constant demand for autographs and photos etc.
“This has been my first visit to Bishopscourt and I must say I have been impressed with the circuit. If they continue to make further improvements it won’t be too long before they will be in a position to host a BSB meeting.”
Steve will next see race action on November 18 when he will be riding the AIM Racing Yamaha R1 in the gruelling Macau Grand Prix.
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