It was a busy weekend for the Woodhall Spa rider who travelled back from the Isle of Man to take part in qualifying at Thruxton before returning to the island for Saturday evening practice for the TT. (See separate report) and then headed back to Thruxton in time for morning warm-up and the 16-lap race.

Plater had been up at the sharp end throughout qualifying at the Hampshire circuit and ended the final session in fifth place.

“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 Plater 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 Plater 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 ant 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 Plater. “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.


pic credit - action - Turn One Photography