It has been confirmed that the injuries that Steve Plater received in a high speed crash at Quarry Hill during practice for the NW200 will keep from defending his titles at TT 2010.

He is due to have both the radius and ulna in his left arm plated. It is not known how long the injuries will keep him from racing; but he has no chance of being fit for the TT which starts in just two weeks time.

Last year’s Senior Race winner, Joey Dunlop trophy winner and one of only three men to lap the Mountain Circuit at over 130mph; his presence will be much missed by the race fans. We wish Steve a rapid recovery from his injuries.

In other TT news, the sidecar passenger merry-go-round goes on. Many of the top riders have different passengers from last year. Dave Molyneux; after originally teaming up with Gary Partridge; now has Tim Reeves’ former passenger Patrick Farrance alongside him on the works Kawasaki outfit. Dave’s former passenger Daniel Sayle is down in the programme to partner Tim. There was a parting of the ways between the two recently; due to a disagreement over machine preparation. Tim has been able to secure the services of the experienced Dipash Chauhan. Dipash has been alongside Dougie Wright, Nigel Connole and Greg Lambert in the past.

Klaus Klaffenbock has Christian Parzer as his passenger in the programme; but “travel problems” mean that Christian cannot attend the meeting. Daniel Sayle has agreed to partner the former World Champion as he bids to end his TT bad luck and claim a podium place this year. Klaus is a staunch TT supporter and deserves success for all of his efforts; he certainly has the best possible passenger to help him achieve that.

Other leading contenders with new passengers are Greg Lambert (Jason Slous); Simon Neary (Paul Knapton); Gary Bryan (Mark Sayers) and Steve Coombes (Jamie Winn). The well established pairing of John Holden and Winkle on the tried and trusted TAS Suzuki is the most likely to deny Molyneux his 15th victory.