Steve Plater rode to a fine seventh place in round eleven of the National Superstock championship at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire on Sunday to edge nearer to fifth place in the overall championship with two races remaining. The HM Plant Honda rider from Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire who is mounting a comeback after his accident during practice for the North West 200 races in May, made steady progress throughout the weekend to complete his qualifying in 11th place and made a start to his race from a third row grid position. He said: “It was not so good for me this morning because it rained just before our session which made the track conditions a bit inconsistent. But it cleared up for the second session and that went very well for me. I managed to get within a second of the lap record so I am quite happy with my times. I am not going to be winning the race tomorrow for sure but I am pretty confident with the way I am riding at the moment and am building back up to getting into the front places. That was a good result for me and I am quite happy but of course its tomorrow that counts.” As the race got underway Plater made a steady start, settling into 14th place on the first lap. But he soon got into his stride and began to make his move upfield. He became embroiled in a three way battle for ninth place with David Paton and Kenny Gilbertson and finally overcame the pair, going on to cross the finish line in seventh position to pick up nine championship points. Although he remains in sixth place in the overall standings the affable Lincolnshire rider has edged to within three points of a top five position which, after sitting out six of the 13 rounds is a credit to his riding skills. “I am really happy with that,” said Steve. “I wanted to improve on the Cadwell result but more importantly I wanted to improve my lap times. I was only 0.8s away from the fastest lap which I was well happy with. I am still struggling a little bit with fitness, especially in the letter stages and more so in the braking areas as I am getting a bit weak towards the end of the race. But that’s not me whinging, I am well happy with seventh and will keep building from here really. It’s all about building my strength ready for next season. Hopefully I can keep cracking on and maybe get a sniff of the podium before the end of the season.” The penultimate round of the championship is at Silverstone on September 26 where Steve will face learning a new track as it has been redesigned this year. He will be at a slight disadvantage as the series visited the Northamptonshire circuit earlier in the year as a support to MotoGP. But Steve missed out on the two races at the beginning of August as he was still recovering from his accident. More, from a press release issued by Tom Tunstall Racing: More Points For Tunstall With the tenth round of the 2010 British Superbike Championships taking place at the North Yorkshire circuit of Croft over the weekend, Doodson Motorsport racer Tom Tunstall took the opportunity to notch up more championship points with the season’s best finish of 14th in race one. Changeable weather affected the practice sessions limiting set-up time for the teams and after reaching the second phase of qualifying, Tunstall was still chasing an optimum set-up on the team’s Honda CBR1000RR and slipped from 17th to 20th. “We’re still looking to improve how the bike works around here. It’s not been easy as dry track time has been limited with the weather & it’s a bumpy circuit. Its hard work to ride consistently fast but we’ve got morning warm up to try and improve the setting then it’s just a case of doing the best with what I’ve got!” Tunstall was lucky to survive the first lap of race one after being hit by Australian David Johnson in the second corner. The impact damaged Tom’s seat and cost the Yorkshireman vital time and places. After two laps following the safety car, Tunstall got to work at regaining places. By lap 17 was up to 16th. Overhauling a three second gap Tunstall passed Hudson Kennaugh to take 15th on the penultimate lap. Then just two corners from home Yukio Kagayama momentarily ran onto the grass just in front of Tom. Needing no invitation Tunstall picked up another place to cross the line in a hard earned 14th. With a 21st in the second race Tunstall rounded up the weekend: “I was scratching my head after qualifying with the bike set-up. Fortunately the guys from Ohlins [Suspension] pointed us in the right direction which meant I was fighting the bike less in the races. It’s great to get some more points on the board and we want to keep building the momentum at Silverstone. I haven’t ridden the new track there yet, but it looks mega, I can’t wait”. In just under two weeks time the penultimate round of the series takes place on the new Silverstone Arena GP circuit. Modified over winter to stage the British round of Moto GP, it will be the first time British Superbikes have utilised the revised 3.66 mile layout. More, from a press release issued by sorrymate.com/SMT Honda: Solid weekend at Croft for Walker and SMT Honda Chris Walker put in two strong rides in the latest round of the British Superbike Championship at Croft on Sunday to finish in 9th and 12th places on the sorrymate.com/SMT Honda. The Nottinghamshire rider made good strides forward from his 16th place in qualifying and the 11 points gained have seen him strengthen his hold on 10th place in the Championship table. As in recent meetings, conditions in free practice and qualifying were again mixed with sun and showers greeting the riders but the solitary qualifying session was held in good, dry weather although the team were again searching for the ideal set-up around the notoriously bumpy North Yorkshire circuit. Once more, Chris easily made it in to the second stage of qualifying and a time of 1m22.060s saw him take 16th place in the knockout format and so he lined up on the fourth row of the grid for the opening encounter. A solid start in the first 20-lap race saw Chris move up to 14th place at the end of the first lap but the pace car was soon deployed for an incident, staying out for a period of 2 laps. Positions remained the same until half race distance when Alastair Seeley and Gary Mason collided at the hairpin, promoting Chris up to 12th and this became 10th three laps later when third placed Michael Rutter crashed out and Tommy Bridewell retired with an engine problem. Chris was locked in battle with John Laverty throughout the race but was unable to find room for a pass whilst in the latter stages he also had to contend with a charging Mason. However, none of the riders were close enough for overtaking and so Chris ended up in 9th place, less than four tenths of a second behind Laverty. Starting from an improved 14th on the grid for race two, Chris moved up to 13th on the first lap and, with Laverty this time right on his back wheel, the duo both overhauled title contender Alastair Seeley on lap six. By this stage, the leading riders had made a bit of a break from Laverty and Chris and for the remainder of the race the duo circulated nose to tail. Despite coming under intense pressure from the Ulsterman, Chris was able to utilise all his race craft and skill to keep him at bay and so crossed the line in 12th place for another 4 points. Speaking later, team owner Robin Croft commented: “I’m pretty pleased with how today’s races have gone and although we again had the same old problem of mixed weather during free practice and qualifying, overall I’m happy. The bumpy circuit caused us a problem, as it did for everyone else and it was always going to be hard coming from the 4th row of the grid, particularly at a circuit where it’s quite difficult to overtake, but Chris put in two fine rides and we got a decent haul of points this weekend.” “At a risk of repeating myself, the lack of set up time again hurt us but we were back in the top ten and maintained 10th place in the Championship and that’s what we want to do for the rest of the season. The aim at Silverstone is to qualify higher up the grid though and, if we can do that, I’m sure we can run inside the top ten more comfortably. Chris has the race pace to be there so if we can be one or two rows further forward, we won’t be making things so hard for ourselves. Like I say though, the team are happy and we’ve picked up some good points and it continues to be a pleasure working with Chris so we’ll look forward to Silverstone and aim to go a few places better there.” The next round of the series takes place at the Silverstone GP circuit on September 24-26. More, from a press release issued by John McGuinness’ publicist: McGuinness cruelly denied top six finish at Croft John McGuinness was cruelly denied a fine top six place finish in round 10 of the Metzeler National 1000cc Superstock Championship at Croft on Sunday when an electrical problem caused him to drop down the field in the closing stages. The Padgetts Honda rider had been running as high as 5th in the early part of the race but, at mid-race distance, a crank sensor failed and the Morecambe man was powerless to do anything and, as the bike continued to misfire, he limped home in 11th place. The weekend had been going well for John up until that point and practice and qualifying had seen him run at a strong pace as he returned to the circuit that had seen him take a brilliant victory 12 months ago. Despite a mixture of sun and showers during Friday and Saturday’s sessions, John was running well on both days and the first qualifying session, held in the damp, did see him occupy provisional pole position for a brief moment. He ultimately ended the session in 4th place but all of the times would count for little when the afternoon’s final qualifying session was held in dry conditions and the times subsequently tumbled. John and the Padgetts Honda were still running strongly in the dry and although he eventually finished in 9th place, to head off the third row of the grid, he was well in contention with those ahead of him; indeed, one second covered the first 11 riders and it promised to be another extremely fraught race. A brilliant start to the 15-lap race saw John seize 5th place on the opening lap and here he remained until the third lap when John Ingram and Victor Cox shuffled him back to 7th place, a terrific five-man scrap for 5th ensuing. John’s team-mate Glen Richards overtook him on lap five just as race leader Scott Smart dropped out of contention and so John continued in 7th and still well in contention for a top five position. However, by half race distance he was beginning to slightly lose touch with the riders in front of him as the aforementioned sensor problem surfaced and, as the race wore on, his pace dropped significantly. With just two laps to go he was still in 7th place but it was on the penultimate lap when the misfire really became problematical and, with the bike failing to get off the turns as it should have done or make the power it was capable of, he was immediately swallowed up by the group behind him. At one stage it didn’t look like John would even finish, let alone finish in the points, but he managed to nurse the ailing machine home and he limped across the line in 11th place, the 5 points meaning he’s now in 9th place in the Championship, a position that would have been 8th had it not been for the crank sensor failure. Speaking afterwards, a disappointed John said: “I was really pleased with how everything had been going this weekend so for a little electrical problem to deny us the finish I felt we all deserved was really frustrating. For once I made a great start and to jump from 9th to 5th was just what I wanted to do – I just ran it round the outside of everyone in the first corner and hung it out there! After that, I hung on to the guys in front of me and with some good lap times I felt really strong but at about half race distance, the bike started to misfire and there was absolutely nothing I could do. I was still in 7th with just two laps to go but then the whole group behind came by me through the Esses, which was a bit hairy, and all I could do was limp home. We’d all worked really hard this weekend and were running strong throughout so it’s a real shame but it was no-one’s fault and at least we were back at the sharp end. We’ll be doing everything we can to ensure that’s where we are at the last two rounds.” John and the team now head back to the public roads and Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough for the International Gold Cup races, the meeting taking place on September 18/19. More, from a press release issued by Marty Nutt’s publicist: No joy for Nutt at Croft Marty Nutt had a race to forget at Croft on Sunday when he could only finish in 17th place in round 10 of the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport 600cc Championship. The Castlerock rider had been in excellent form throughout practice and qualifying but the combination of a poor start and an incorrect tyre choice led to him failing to capitalise on his third row start and he left the North Yorkshire venue very disappointed. Coming to one of his favourite circuits, Marty was immediately on the pace in Friday’s free practice sessions and was comfortably inside the top twelve, positions he improved upon during qualifying on Saturday. A time of 1m23.022s saw him end the first 30-minute session in a brilliant 5th place and on the provisional second row of the grid although hopes of climbing higher in final qualifying were dashed when he was held up on the majority of his ‘flying’ laps. He did improve his time to a 1m22.851s, but he slipped back to 9th place overall thus heading off the third row of the grid. Opting to go with the harder choice of tyre, which he felt would pay dividends in the later stages of the race, the race got off to the worst possible start for Marty when he slipped back to 14th on the first lap although he soon moved forward and looked like he’d be in the top ten sooner rather than later. However, he was already struggling for grip as the hard tyre wasn’t working as he had expected it to and, on lap 7, it all went wrong on the approach to Tower. Approaching the corner too quickly, Marty had little option other than to pick the bike up and head straight on and although he gamely rejoined the race, he dropped all the way back to 23rd place. By lap 14 of the 18 scheduled laps, he had fought his way back up to 17th but hopes of scoring any Championship points were ended when the race was stopped a lap later due to oil having been deposited on to the track by another competitor. Talking later, a hugely disappointed Marty said: “It’s definitely been a bad day at the office and having been hopeful of a top 8 finish, at least, to finish out of the points is a huge disappointment. It was my decision to go with the hard tyre but it just didn’t work at all and making a bad start just added to my woes. I dropped way back on the first lap but started to claw my way back a bit although I was already struggling for grip and not getting what I thought I would from the tyre. The back wheel came up in to the air going into Tower and I was already going in too hot so all I could do was let off the brakes and go straight on in to the field. I rejoined but even if the race hadn’t have been stopped, 15th was probably the highest I could have got after the mistake.” “It’s so frustrating as I’d been there or thereabouts all weekend and even in morning warm-up, I was inside the top 7. I made a real effort to get into race mode early on Sunday so tried hard in both the warm-up and the sighting laps and was convinced the hard tyre was the way to go as that’s what had worked for me best in 2009. It simply didn’t work out like that this time though and whilst my tyre was destroyed at the end, all the soft tyres that other riders were using were still in mint condition. It’s just been one of those races and all I can do is forget about it and move on to the next round. Silverstone will be a high speed, fast and flowing circuit which should suit my style so, hopefully, I can learn it quickly and make amends there for today’s result.” The penultimate round of the British Supersport 600cc Championship takes place at Silverstone on September 24-26. More, from a press release issued by Honda: HARD EARNED POINTS KEEP KIYONARI AND BROOKES IN TITLE CHASE Round 10 Croft, North Yorkshire 12 September MCE INSURANCE BRITISH SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP. The fight for the MCE Insurance British Superbike crown entered the “Showdown” phase in this tenth round at the Croft circuit in North Yorkshire, with the HM Plant Honda riders, Ryuichi Kiyonari and Josh Brookes, among the six “title-fighters,” but hard as they rode, they were not able to enjoy podium finishes. Kiyonari, the former two times winner of the British title, had been on the back-foot after taking a tumble on his out lap in the third and final element of the grid deciding “Roll for Pole” and though uninjured, he was unable to take any further part, and that left him with a third row starting slot for the opening race while Brookes, who was also struggling, the bumpy nature of the circuit making it difficult to dial his bike in, was back on the fourth row. They both had uphill struggles with Kiyonari compounding things by making a poor start to the opener, which left him back in 22nd place on the first lap, but he was soon back in the groove and attacking to gain placings, coming through to finish that race in eleventh place. Brookes, meanwhile, was also gaining ground, amid a hard fought mid-pack, as he came through to finish in sixth place and in the second race, it was a similar story, with Kiyonari running eleventh on the opening lap, four places down on Brookes, but as the race progressed better things lay ahead with Kiyonari showing the speed and style that in earlier visits to this circuit had taken him to four victories. This time, Kiyonari had to settle for fourth place with Brookes back in eighth, while their Swan Honda rivals, Stuart Easton and James Ellison, who had missed the cut to be among the “title-fighters” were enjoying better results. Easton, who has scored his maiden BSB victory in the corresponding round of last year, took a pair of third placings while Ellison, sidelined by a front tyre puncture in the opener took sixth place next time out. Kiyonari, on 543 points, one more than Brookes, is third in the title standings which are led by Suzuki rider Tommy Hill who took the opening race victory, ahead of Michael Laverty, with the results reversed next time out, leaving Hill 570-554 ahead of Laverty with five races and two rounds to go. Honda BSB rider after race quotes: Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda): “I am disappointed for sure as I wanted to win and I haven’t finished on the podium. I put pressure on myself after qualifying as I had that crash which meant I was on the third row and it isn’t always easy to pass around here. We didn’t make many changes between the races, just minor adjustments but we have made progress from practice to the race it is just disappointing it wasn’t enough. I think that maybe I was tense for the first race and made some mistakes, but the second one was better and I had to fight hard for the positions. I am not worried about Silverstone as I think now that we can go back and aim for wins as we need them for the championship with only five races remaining.” Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda): “It hasn’t been a good weekend for me and I am just going to put it behind me. We thought this could be a strong round for us, we were on the podium twice last year but we haven’t been as competitive as we should have been and it has been a struggle. We had a bad start to the weekend and never really recovered and it was hard to know what we were doing wrong, but we need to look at what has happened this weekend in terms of the way we work through the changes and resolve it. Race two was better than race one for me, but we didn’t make any real drastic changes as it could have made it worse. We are just going to look at the weekend and then prepare for a better weekend at Silverstone.” Stuart Easton (Swan Honda): “It has been a much better weekend for me and I am so happy to be back up on the podium and putting the team back where it should be. Two podiums from two races is all I could have hoped for today and they were tough, especially race two as I had a bit of tension in my arm. The podium in the first race got the monkey off my back and I was able to relax a bit for race two and then go out and repeat the performance. It has been an unbelievable weekend and fair play to the team as they have worked so hard for this result. I also need to thank the team, all of our sponsors and supporters who have stood by me this season.” James Ellison (Swan Honda): “It has been a weird weekend for me and one of mixed emotions. I felt like I was getting stronger throughout the event and I was so happy with how qualifying went and to be on the front row. We came out and had a good warm up session so I was feeling good for the races. I was up fighting for the podium and the bike just didn’t feel right on the front; I tried to ride around the problem but it wasn’t until about half way through the race that I knew something was very wrong. I thought I could stay out and salvage some good points as I was in fourth but it just got too bad and I nearly launched myself a few times. In the second race I just got caught behind Michael Rutter and I passed him but then ran wide on more than one occasion, so that was disappointing as I was hoping for more this weekend.” Results Race1 POS / NAME / NAT / BIKE / TIME / GAP 1 / Tommy HILL / GBR / Suzuki – Worx Crescent Suzuki / 27:43.359 / 2 / Michael LAVERTY / GBR / Suzuki – Relentless Suzuki by TAS / 27:43.514 / 0.155 3 / Stuart EASTON / GBR / Honda – Swan Honda / 27:53.536 / 10.177 4 / Simon ANDREWS / GBR / Kawasaki – MSS Colchester Kawasaki / 27:56.871 / 13.512 5 / Dan LINFOOT / GBR / Yamaha – Motorpoint Yamaha / 27:58.101 / 14.742 6 / Josh BROOKES / AUS / Honda – HM Plant Honda / 27:58.766 / 15.407 7 / Loris BAZ / FRA / Yamaha – Motorpoint Yamaha / 28:04.403 / 21.044 8 / John LAVERTY / GBR / Kawasaki – Buildbase Kawasaki / 28:09.342 / 25.983 9 / Chris WALKER / GBR / Honda – Sorrymate.com SMT Honda / 28:09.663 / 26.304 10 / Gary MASON / GBR / Kawasaki – MSS Colchester Kawasaki / 28:10.029 / 26.670 11 / Ryuichi KIYONARI / JPN / Honda – HM Plant Honda / 28:14.813 / 31.454 12 / Peter HICKMAN / GBR / Yamaha – Ultimate Racing / 28:18.795 / 35.436 13 / Adam JENKINSON / GBR / Kawasaki – Buildbase Kawasaki / 28:23.807 / 40.448 14 / Tom TUNSTALL / GBR / Honda – Doodson Motorsport / 28:26.543 / 43.184 15 / Hudson KENNAUGH / RSA / Aprilia – Splitlath Motorsport / 28:28.885 / 45.526 Fastest lap: Lap 5 Tommy HILL GBR Suzuki – Worx Crescent Suzuki 1:20.798 152.37 kph Results Race2 POS / NAME / NAT / BIKE / LAPS / TIME / GAP 1 / Michael LAVERTY / GBR / Suzuki – Relentless Suzuki by TAS / 25:42.670 / / 2 / Tommy HILL / GBR / Suzuki – Worx Crescent Suzuki / 25:42.872 / 0.202 / 0.202 3 / Stuart EASTON / GBR / Honda – Swan Honda / 25:51.204 / 8.534 / 8.332 4 / Ryuichi KIYONARI / JPN / Honda – HM Plant Honda / 25:52.260 / 9.590 / 1.056 5 / Michael RUTTER / GBR / Ducati – RidersMotorcycles.Com / 25:52.503 / 9.833 / 0.243 6 / James ELLISON / GBR / Honda – Swan Honda / 25:52.808 / 10.138 / 0.305 7 / Tommy BRIDEWELL / GBR / Honda – Quay Garage Tyco Racing / 25:53.400 / 10.730 / 0.592 8 / Josh BROOKES / AUS / Honda – HM Plant Honda / 25:54.289 / 11.619 / 0.889 9 / Dan LINFOOT / GBR / Yamaha – Motorpoint Yamaha / 25:55.082 / 12.412 / 0.793 10 / Simon ANDREWS / GBR / Kawasaki – MSS Colchester Kawasaki / 25:59.159 / 16.489 / 4.077 11 / Gary MASON / GBR / Kawasaki – MSS Colchester Kawasaki / 26:00.350 / 17.680 / 1.191 12 / Chris WALKER / GBR / Honda – Sorrymate.com SMT Honda / 26:10.010 / 27.340 / 9.660 13 / John LAVERTY / GBR / Kawasaki – Buildbase Kawasaki / 26:10.384 / 27.714 / 0.374 14 / Yukio KAGAYAMA / JPN / Suzuki – Worx Crescent Suzuki / 26:12.147 / 29.477 / 1.763 15 / Alastair SEELEY / GBR / Suzuki – Relentless Suzuki by TAS / 26:13.823 / 31.153 / 1.676 Fastest lap: Lap 12 Tommy HILL GBR Suzuki – Worx Crescent Suzuki 1:20.484 152.97 kph Championship points Name Total 1 HILL 570, 2 LAVERTY 554, 3 KIYONARI 543, 4 BROOKES 542, 5 RUTTER 521, 6 SEELEY 506, 7 EASTON 160, 8 LAVERTY 158, 9 ELLISON 131, 10 WALKER 108, 11 BRIDEWELL 91, 12 ANDREWS 89, 13 MASON 83, 14 KAGAYAMA 76, 15 LINFOOT 74.