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AIM YAMAHA – OULTON PARK REPORT

Author: Helen Pask
Posted on: Tuesday, May 06 2008



A few niggling teething issues with the bike disrupted Plater’s free practice sessions but these appeared to be resolved in time for the 50- minute qualification period on Sunday. As the track began to dry Plater switched to a qualifying tyre but on the run to Druids the chain snapped and he had to jog back to the garage and jump on his spare bike.



But of course the only remaining qualifiers from his permitted quota were already in use on the bike that was parked up at Druids. Plater had to make do with the intermediate front that was already in place on the spare R1 and consequently was only able to post a time quick enough to make it up to 22nd on the grid for the start of the set of two races.



The first race was disrupted by rain and Steve chose the wrong compound tyre, which affected his pace on a drying surface. He had a number of “moments” and decided it was not worth carrying on and perhaps crashing so reluctantly retired at four laps distance.



Race two was a different matter, and Plater began to make steady progress towards the riders ahead, picking them off one a lap until he reached 14th position. The race was then red-flagged and a result declared at positions on lap 13 giving him 12th place and four championship points.



Hutchy started from a third row grid position and was soon on the pace in the restarted race. He made it through to fourth place but then fell back to complete the race in ninth position to claim seven championship points and move to sixth place in the rider points table.



STEVE PLATER – TEAM COORDINATOR



That was hard work really; I worked so hard to come from 22nd to finishing in 12th place in that second race. I got stuck behind one or two riders at times but eventually managed to get by and get my head down and keep consistent. It was a little bit of guess work with tyre choice, I went for a softer compound this time and it seemed to hang in there but I was struggling for rear grip if anything.



Hutchy had a bit of a bad race because he chose the wrong front tyre. He went for an intermediate when he should perhaps have used a dry front. He got a good start but by the end he dropped back to ninth.



IAN HUTCHINSON



I started off well at the restart and got up to fourth place but went on the side of caution a bit too much and used an intermediate tyre so couldn’t really hang in there with it. It was heating up a lot more than a dry tyre so I was moving around a lot. It’s a shame cos to be honest I think we could have run with them today. The team have put a lot of effort into this weekend and it’s a shame for them I couldn’t have finished further up the field.




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