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STEVE PLATER IN THE POINTS AT BRANDS HATCH

Author: Helen Pask
Posted on: Monday, Aug 04 2008



Plater, from Woodhall Spa, was deputising for an injured rider and was drafted into the team as a last minute replacement on Wednesday.



He met up with the team on Thursday prior to the first free practice session on Friday when he took the opportunity to acclimatise himself to the Triumph and make adjustments to suit his riding style.



Steve explained: “I was called up at the last minute due to an injury to one of their riders. Everything is going very well and I have gelled with the team members and also the machine. It’s the first time I have ever ridden a three cylinder 675 Triumph but I am quite comfy on the machine and have progressed all weekend in every session. In free practice on Saturday I didn’t actually go any faster but we learned an awful lot, changing different things on the bike, enough to go pretty much a second faster in qualifying. I was quite happy with 11th place on the grid as it helped me get a better position in the race.



But the weather didn’t behave as predicted and regular showers disrupted the action throughout race day.



Starting from a third row grid position Plater was running in 10th place on the opening lap but rain was never very far away and began to affect the pace, which saw him drop back to 14th place until officials eventually decided to stop the race on lap nine.



At the restart Plater began to edge his way forward and was sitting in a comfortable 11th position ready to pounce on the riders ahead when a serious accident involving Craig Jones brought out the red flag and a result was declared at 15 laps.



Plater was awarded 11th place to pick up five championship points and headed straight from the track to prepare for his eight-hour World Endurance race on Saturday at Oschersleben in Germany.



“It was an eventful race with the changeable weather and the red flag for rain, which should have come earlier. Everyone was riding around sticking their hands up in the air for two laps,” explained Plater.



“I am happy with the machine, we had one or two problems in the first half of the race so we made some changes for the re-start and went better. My lap times were very good, and I was faster than the four or five riders in front of me but didn’t have the time to pass them before the red flag came out once again.


Steve is back in action on Thursday when he joins the Yamaha Austria World Endurance team for qualifying practice in preparation for Saturday’s eight-hour event at Oschersleben in Germany. The race is due to start at 3pm CET (2pm UK time) and set to end at 11pm CET (10pm UK)


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