Superb fourth place at Snetterton for McGuinness Fresh from his stunning Isle of Man TT exploits, Morecambe’s John McGuinness put in another storming ride in the latest round of the British Superstock Championship at Snetterton on Sunday. The Padgetts Honda rider was in contention for the podium throughout and crossed the line in fourth place, only being deprived a rostrum on the final lap, and the result saw him leap back up to seventh in the Championship table. Opening qualifying took place on Friday afternoon and John signalled his intentions for the weekend with a lap of 1m07.565s that not only put him on the provisional front row of the grid in fourth but was also only three tenths of a second outside of the lap record and with final qualifying hit by rain the front row was where he lined up. An excellent start saw John slot into third at the end of the first lap and for the next few laps it was nip and tuck between John, team-mate Steve Brogan, championship leader Alastair Seeley and Richard Cooper. Brogan and Seeley managed to edge away just after half race distance, albeit by only a couple of seconds, but John and Cooper continued to fight it out until the end. John had taken over third on the final lap and a second podium of the season looked to be on the cards until three corners from the end when Cooper made a lunge up the inside and seized the position. With no time to respond, John had to settle for fourth, just one tenth of a second behind. Speaking later, a pleased John said: “So near, yet so far for me again! I felt I was riding as well, and as fast, as anyone else out there today and it feels great to be running up at the front at each round so I know if we can keep continuing to do what we’re doing podiums will be heading our way again.” “I was in the hunt for the win right from the very beginning and I was really happy with how I was riding. The bike was working fantastically well and I was scratching hard for the full 18 laps and it was only a final lap out-braking manoeuvre by Cooper that got me. It’s never easy to go straight from the TT to a short circuit meeting but we’ve been at the sharp end all weekend and that’s tremendously encouraging for the rest of the year. There’s seven rounds still to go and plenty of points to go for so I’ll be making sure I get as many of them as possible!” John now has a two-week break before the sixth round takes place at Knockhill, Scotland on July 5th. More, from a press release issued by SMT Honda: Strong weekend at Snetterton for SMT Honda SMT Honda riders Jason O’Halloran and Adam Jenkinson enjoyed a strong day’s racing at Snetterton on Sunday where they were competing in the latest rounds of the British Superbike and Superstock Championships. O’Halloran scored points in both of the main Superbike races, including a fine 10th place in the second, whilst Jenkinson’s good run of form continued with 5th in the Superstock class, his third top five finish in a row. O’Halloran was again encountering a circuit for the first time but he soon got to grips with the former airfield and for the first time this year he made it through the knockout stages of qualifying in tenth place. The first 20-lap race was red flagged due to oil being deposited on the track and on the re-start Jason got pushed wide at the first corner, subsequently finding himself down in 18th place at the end of the first lap. However, by lap 7 he was into the points in 15th and he kept pushing hard to the end, eventually being rewarded with 12th. A better start in the second race saw him maintain his tenth place and although he was briefly relegated to 11th, he fought back to claim tenth place at the chequered flag, his fourth top ten finish of the year. For team-mate Jenkinson it was another good weekend and he lined up in 6th place on the grid, his time from first qualifying standing after the final session was heavily disrupted by rain. A sluggish start to the 18-lap race saw him drop back initially but by the end of the second lap he had worked his way up to fifth. His pace was almost identical to the four riders in front of me and although he could make up a tenth of a second each lap, it wasn’t enough for him to significantly close the gap and he ultimately had to settle for fifth, only five seconds adrift of the race win. The result also meant he closed to within one point of fourth place overall in the title race. Speaking at the conclusion of the day, team owner Robin Croft commented: “We’ve scored good points in all three races and I’m pleased with the results the two riders achieved with the only slight disappointment being that we’ve lost a bit of ground in the Superbike points table. In the first race Jason got punted off at the first corner so he had a lot of work to do but he’s got terrific fighting spirit and hauled himself up to 12th at a circuit that’s not easy to overtake at. A better start in the second saw him right in the fight for a top ten result and right from free practice until the second race we’ve been constantly making improvements to the bike. We’re a lot happier with it now and have advanced significantly forward with the electronics so we’ll continue to keep working hard to ensure we’re in the top ten, at least, in each race.” “Adam didn’t make the best of starts and although he was soon up to fifth, the front four had just made that bit of a break and with Snetterton being a relatively short circuit, it was a bit too big a gap to bridge. Nevertheless, three top five finishes in a row is terrific for us and not only has he consolidated fifth place in the Championship, he’s closed up considerably to fourth place. Overall, I’m happy with how the weekend has gone and we can all look forward to Knockhill with our heads up.” The sixth round of the Championship takes the team north of the border to Knockhill in Scotland with the meeting taking place on the weekend of July 3-5. More, from a press release issued by Team Naturally Best: SENSATIONAL SNETTERTON VICTORY FOR BRIDEWELL…! After more than a season away from the ViSK.com British Superbike Championship, Wiltshire rider Tommy Bridewell returned in style with a sensational victory at Snetterton today. Aboard the Team NB Suzuki GSX-R1000K6, the 20-year-old from Etchilhampton near Devizes took the win in the mirror.co.uk Cup class in the opening race at the Norfolk circuit and just for good measure, took the final point in the main series for finishing a battling 15th overall. The result was in stark contrast to the early part of the meeting which saw the Bridewell Racing Team struggle to get to grips with BSB after a season and a half away racing in Europe and Tommy could only manage 28th place in qualifying. However, the team dialled in some speed and coupled with Bridewell’s lightning start, he circulated with factory TAS Suzuki rider Atsushi Watanabe and the Hawk Kawasaki of Tristan Palmer before beating Peter Hickman and Matt Bond in the Privateers battle to top the podium for the first time since Brands Hatch in 2005. Tommy couldn’t quite manage the same heroic feat in race two as a minor handling problem thwarted his hopes but he still brought the four-year-old bike home in fourth place in the mirror.co.uk Cup and 20th overall. With the loudest cheer of the day still ringing in his ears from the podium, a delighted Tommy said: “We’ve had a bit of a rough time on the racetrack over the past couple of seasons but to get a result like this is fantastic. We only decided to put this team back together a couple of weeks ago and we have worked like hell to make this happen. Thanks to mum, dad, my sister Charlotte and my friend Jason for their help, and of course Ollie, it looked like we were not going to do very well at the start but we battled on and sorted the problems as best we could and here we are. Racing with Watanabe was great but his bike was so fast on the straights, it was unbelievable, and whilst we weren’t planning on going to Knockhill, we’ll have a copper up and see if we can make it somehow.” Bridewell’s results have already elevated him to eighth place in the mirror.co.uk Cup and a repeat performance in two weeks time at Knockhill (July 4/5th) could see him as high as fifth. More, from a press release issued by Ryan Farquhar’s publicist: Farquhar takes terrific four-timer at Bush Ryan Farquhar bounced back strongly from his relatively disappointing Isle of Man TT Races campaign to record a superb four wins on his KMR Kawasaki’s at the Bush Road Races on Saturday, the local meeting for the Dungannon rider. With mixed weather conditions throughout the day, Ryan opted to run intermediate tyres for the day and he opened his account with a start to finish win in the Supertwins class and such was his dominance he took the win by over 54 seconds! Next up was the Supersport 600cc race and again Ryan was never headed and he was able to take his second win of the day, this time by 17.611 seconds, also setting a new lap record of 86.696mph. The last two races of the day saw Ryan out on the 1000cc machine and he promptly made it a hat-trick when he took the Open race by another comfortable margin. That just left the Grand Final to negotiate and he made it another superb day of racing on the roads when he made it four wins from four starts, winning on this occasion by 10.881 seconds as he also set a new lap record for the class at 87.917mph. Speaking later, a delighted Ryan said: “The weather was quite iffy to be honest and it made tyre a choice a bit of a lottery but the Dunlop intermediates run well in both the wet and the dry so I stuck with them for the day. In the Supertwins race some parts of the circuit were wet and some were dry but I got my head down and was never challenged. It was a fair bit wetter for the 600cc race and a lot of riders did opt for wets but it was drying quickly and that played in to my hands. It was much the same in the two 1000cc races and although they were declared wet races, the safe bet was to again go with the intermediates and it paid dividends.’ “I was definitely a wee bit down after the TT as the results there were not what I was hoping for but I feel refreshed now and the four wins today have certainly raised the spirits. I’m leading 7 Championships now – the Irish Open, 600cc and Supertwins series’ and the corresponding Ulster ones plus the Duke Road Race Rankings – and it’s an extremely busy time of the year for me with one meeting after another so let’s hope they’re all as good as today!” The meeting was the start of a hectic ten-week period that will see Ryan take in no less than 11 meetings with the next race coming this Sunday at the Athea Road Races. More, from a press release issued by KTM: Stefan Nebel and Didier van Keymeulen pick up IDM points at Sachsenring despite handi The KTM Super Bike Team made a good debut appearance in difficult circumstances in their first start on the Sachsenring, the GP circuit in Germany’s Saxony in the IDM this weekend. Stefan Nebel, with a tenth and a sixth place and his Belgian team-mate Didier van Keymeulen with places 13 und 10 both picked up valuable championship points racing in front of 30,000 spectators. Nebel, whose start at the Sachsenring was suddenly brought into question due to a virus infection, is second in the championship table at the half way mark of the season. The fourth IDM race weekend of the season was a difficult one for the KTM team under the leadership of Konrad Hefele. Didier van Keymeulen crashed in the last corner of the circuit at the beginning of timed training and had to start back at place 26 after the second training was rained out. In addition “DVK” was still in visible discomfort from the injury to his right hand incurred four weeks ago during testing before the races on the Nuerburgring. Meanwhile, Nebel, significantly weakened because of the virus recorded his worst training result of the season at thirteenth. Race 1 Tyre Poker: that’s the best way to describe the first Superbike race on the Sachsenring. Following significant rain in the morning almost the entire field went out on rain tyres for the first 21-lap race. Whereas Stefan Nebel was in thirteenth place in the opening stages, team-mate van Keymeulen overtook nine opponents in the first lap. By the middle of the race the undulating circuit was almost completely dried out and both RC8R riders could make good more places. But in the end, Nebel and van Keymeulen, both with completely worn out tyres, had to be satisfied with places ten and thirteen. The winner was Arne Tode followed by championship leader Joerg Teuchert and Guenther Knobloch in the minor places. Race 2 There was no discussion about what tyres to use in the second race which was plagued by constant rain and cool weather. DVK started strongly, repeating what he had done in the first race and whipped past 10 opponents in the first lap. At the end of the 21-lap race, the 26-year-old professional racer crossed the line in tenth, even though he still has to struggle with the controls with his injured hand. The 28-year old Nebel was even further up the order. Thanks to constantly good lap times, the German managed to hang onto a group of riders by the middle of the race and to slip past a number of others. Sixth place on the wet and slippery surface by the still unwell KTM Superbike racer allowed him to pick up valuable points. In a surprise result, the eighth IDM race of the season was won by Gabor Rizmayer from Chris Burns and Roman Stamm. Stefan Nebel (10./6.) “This was by far the hardest and most difficult race weekend we have had so far this year. The changeable weather and my poor health didn’t help the team a lot. Compared to how I felt on Friday, I must be happy that I was able to pick up points in both races. We lost the tyre poker in race one because already after a couple of laps it was clear that slicks would have been the right choice. My bike worked perfectly in the second wet race and I could put in good lap times without taking any extreme risks. I am now looking forward to the next race and I want to be 100% fit for our home race on the Salzburgring in two weeks time. ” Didier van Keymeulen (13./10.) “Luckily in both races I got away well into the first corner from my bad grid position. It was my goal to finish both races. I managed that and at the same time I picked up nine IDM points. I now have to fully concentrate on making sure that my injury is completely healed because I known that there is more to be had from both me and my motorcycle.” Konrad Hefele – Team boss KTM Superbike Team Germany “Naturally our performance on the Sachsenring is no dream result. But both riders picked up points in both races without any problems and the fact that Stefan is still in second place at the middle of the season is still very positive for us considering where we started from. I think we have again learnt a lot and the team has achieved the best possible result for us.” IDM Standings after Sachsenring races 1. Joerg Teuchert, Germany, 172 2. Stefan Nebel, Germany, KTM, 100 3. Arne Tode, Germany, 98, 4. Gabor Rizmayer, Hungary, 79 5. Werner Daemen, Belgium, 78 6. Guenther Knobloch, Austria 59 7. Roman Stamm, Switzerland, 58 8. Dario Giuseppetti, Germany, 56 9. Didier van Keymeulen, Belgium, 54 More, from a press release issued by Hydrex Honda: EASTON SHINES AT SNETTERTON FOR HYDREX HONDA Hydrex Honda’s Stuart Easton had another excellent weekend of racing in the British Superbike Championship, recording 2nd and 4th place finishes in the latest round at Snetterton. The Hawick rider had been strong throughout qualifying and lined up on the front row of the grid for the two races with a brilliant start in the first seeing him run at the front until three-quarters race distance. He eventually had to give best to current Championship leader Leon Camier on the 16th lap but he comfortably held on for second, his fifth podium of the season. In the second race, another brilliant start saw him lead the field in the first few laps but a missed gear on the fourth lap saw him slip back to fourth and here he remained for the rest of the 20-lap race. The 33 points for the day, the second highest of the day, saw him strengthen his hold on third place in the Championship with 7 rounds of the series still remaining. For team-mate Karl Harris it proved to be a tougher weekend. Caught out in qualifying by a late rain shower, the Sheffield rider had to start from an unfamiliar 11th on the grid and his first race was ruined when he got pushed wide onto the grass by another rider at the first corner. Despite dropping all the way back to outside the top twenty he regrouped strongly and had fought his way back up to a fine 8th at the chequered flag. In the second race he took ninth but the results did see him move up to fifth overall in the Championship. Speaking afterwards, team manager Shaun Muir said: “I’m generally pretty happy with the results today and it’s been a good points haul for Stuart once more. I can’t fault his efforts at all and he does everything we ask of him so he just needs to stay patient and that elusive first win will come. We’re not sure what else we can do to get the win but it will come soon and today’s results have seen him strengthen his third place overall in the Championship. “Karl is going through a bit of a lull at the moment and whilst he’s working really hard he just needs to push that little bit harder in the races. He can run almost identical lap times to the leading riders but he needs to do it consistently throughout the race and once he can do that, he’ll be back at the sharp end.” “We have a very good electronics and bike package now and the only thing that’s holding us back is the lack of full factory Showa front forks that a couple of teams have. We’re using the kit forks that anyone can go out and buy and we have to keep reminding ourselves that we’re a privateer team and don’t have access to some of the equipment the factory teams have. We’ll keep persevering though and, like I say, I’m confident that the win we so desperately want will come sooner rather than later.” The next round takes place north of the border at Knockhill, Scotland with the meeting taking place from July 3-5. Race 1 1 Leon Camier (Airwaves Yamaha) 2 Stuart Easton (Hydrex Honda) +1.575s 3 Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda) +2.540s 4 James Ellison (Airwaves Yamaha) +3.028s 5 Ian Lowry (Relentless by TAS Suzuki) +6.309s 8 Karl Harris (Hydrex Honda) +10.415s Race 2 1 Leon Camier (Airwaves Yamaha) 2 James Ellison (Airwaves Yamaha) +3.050s 3 Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda) +7.827s 4 Stuart Easton (Hydrex Honda) +11.135s 5 John Laverty (Buildbase Kawasaki) +15.972s 9 Karl Harris (Hydrex Honda) +19.145s More, from a press release issued by Conor Cummins’ publicist: Cummins fights hard third top ten finish Conor Cummins took his third successive top ten finish at Snetterton on Sunday where he was competing in the fifth round of the Metzeler National 1000cc Superstock Championship. Just over a week after he finished in second place in the Senior TT, Conor was back on board the Team Blackhorse Yamaha and he took the R1 to 10th place to move up to 11th place overall in the Championship table, with seven rounds still remaining. Having missed the previous round at Thruxton due to his TT commitments, Conor was keen to get his short circuit season up and running again and with a time of 1m08.430s he placed a strong ninth after first qualifying. Hopes of improving further in the second session were dashed when a rain shower hit the Norfolk venue so Conor headed up the third row of the grid for the 18-lap race, his best qualifying performance of the year so far. A strong start saw Conor maintain his ninth and although he slipped back to tenth on lap four, he had climbed up to 8th just two laps later. Embroiled in a terrific dice with Sam Warren, Alex Gault, James Hillier and Marshall Neill, positions were changing not only on each lap but also at each corner. Briefly being pushed to the back of the pack, Conor battled hard and snatched tenth at the chequered flag, just three tenths of a second adrift of 8th place Talking afterwards Conor said, “Having been at the TT for a fortnight, it’s been good to come back to the short circuits and be on the pace straightaway although I am a little disappointed not have finished a bit higher. Qualifying went well and I was confident of finishing in the top 8 but I was losing out a little on top speed and with two long straights here at Snetterton, it proved to be our un-doing. I was all over the other riders in the corners but they were able to gap me a little bit on the straights so it was a little frustrating. Nevertheless, it was another top ten finish and we’ve now proved that we can run inside the top ten, week in week out. The results at the TT have definitely boosted my confidence and I want to really get stuck into these Superstock rounds now and get myself up into the top six. The team are working brilliantly so I’ll keep giving it 100% and ride as hard as possible to get the results I feel we deserve and are capable of.” Conor’s next race for the team will be at this weekend’s World Superbike meeting at Donington Park where he has secured a ‘wildcard’ for the latest round of the European 1000cc Superstock Championship. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Alastair Seeley’s unbeaten record in this season’s British Superstock class on his 2009 GSX-R1000 remains intact after round five of the series. At Snetterton in Norfolk, the diminutive Ulsterman was again involved in the best race of the meeting with his main adversary in the series, Steve Brogan. Seeley both led and followed during the race, in an attempt to outthink his rival; the Carrickfergus rider eventually forcing a mistake from Brogan on the penultimate lap to run out a comfortable winner. BJ Toal on the other Relentless by TAS Suzuki was fighting for a top-10 finish when a mechanical problem forced him to retire after 16 laps. Ian Lowry continued his spirited ascendancy in the British Superbike class with fifth and seventh-placed finishes: The 22-year-old has now gained that little bit more experience going into the next round at Knockhill, which is one of his favourite circuits. Atsushi Watanabe finished his day with 18th and 16th place finishes but improved on his lap times from 2008 at Snetterton. Philip Neill – Team Principal: “Alastair Seeley came to us at the start of the season as a rough diamond and we’ve refined him – knocked the rough edges off – but I have to hand it to him, he has a great racing brain. He might not have been the fastest rider today, but he was certainly the smartest. It’s rare to find a rider who continually delivers the perfect race strategy. “Ian Lowry had another solid weekend and he’s now in a comfort zone in or around the top six. To move to the next step we need to fine-tune a few things and Ian maybe needs to ‘hang it out’ a little more if he’s to push closer to a podium finish. Once again, Atsushi Watanabe has bettered his lap times from 2008, but we will expect further improvements as the season progresses. “BJ Toal was a little unlucky to have retired after knocking on the door of the top 10. We know the lad has the ability; he just needs to find a little bit more confidence in the GSX-R1000 Superstock bike.” Alastair Seeley: “I’m well chuffed with that result. The 2009 GSX-R1000 was not only a fast bike today, we ran good tactics and forced Steve into a late mistake; when he did, I made that last lap count. I’d like to thank Ian Glen from Beacon this weekend, as he has been instrumental in my involvement with the Relentless Suzuki team from the very start. I’m now thinking of Knockhill and having tested there I’m pretty confident of keeping this run going.” Ian Lowry: “The first race was okay for me but I did think we could have been closer to the front in race two. I did have a couple of small issues that I discussed with the team afterwards, but again, it’s just down to me learning as we go along. Every circuit is new to me on a Superbike and the team are continuing to do a superb job for me. John Reynolds has also been a great help this weekend.” BJ Toal: “The race was going pretty good for me until late on when I started to struggle to find gears when I just lost power and had to retire. I have been getting a better feel for the Suzuki GSX-R1000, so I just need the results to start coming now and with that my confidence will build.” Metzeler National 1000cc Superstock Points: 1 Alastair Seeley [Relentless Suzuki] 125 points; 2 Steve Brogan [Honda] 87; 3 Richard Cooper [Yamaha] 61; 4 Scott Smart [Ducati] 51; 5 Adam Jenkinson [Honda] 50; 6 Luke Quigley [Honda] 46. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A.: Spies Wins in San Marino, Closes World Superbike Points Gap Yamaha World Superbike Team’s Ben Spies scored first and ninth-place finishes in the eighth round of the 2009 World Superbike championship at the Misano World Circuit in San Marino on Sunday, June 21. Spies’ eighth win of the season brings the sensational Yamaha rookie to within 48 points of series leader Noriyuki Haga with six rounds left to go in this year’s title chase. Meanwhile teammate Tom Sykes, like Spies aboard the new 2009 crossplane crankshaft YZF-R1, scored eighth- and seventh-place finishes in Sunday’s racing doubleheader and now rides seventh in points. Race one saw plenty of drama as the World Superbike riders headed out for a wet race, but then were forced to pit for new bikes shod with slicks as the rain stopped and the sun broke through the clouds. Spies spent most of this part of the race in fourth, tucked behind rival Michel Fabrizio and pacing himself on the damp track. He picked the ideal time to change to his dry bike on lap 13, emerged from the pits right behind Fabrizio, and then displayed a typical Texan racing masterwork, working swiftly up-field to pass Ruben Xaus for the lead on lap 17 and then leading from there to the checkered flag. Although Spies positioned himself perfectly in second early in race two, a technical issue with the clutch dropped him back to 17th. He then proved his skill yet again, riding around the fault to pass eight riders to ultimately take ninth in the race. “Race one was definitely better than race two!” Spies admitted afterwards. “I picked the right moment to come in to switch bikes and get out on dry tires, and after that I put in good pace and we managed to win the race. In race two I had an issue with the clutch on the start, but in the last seven or eight laps it came good and I tried to run everyone down and started picking them off. Now we’ll go to Donington and try to start over again and see what happens!” More, from a press release issued by Tom Tunstall Racing: Mixed Fortunes for Tunstall at Snetterton The fifth round of the British Superbike Championship held at Snetterton over the weekend saw Hardinge Doodson backed Superbike racer Tom Tunstall experience mixed fortunes as he made up for an engine failure in race one with a third placed rostrum finish in race two. Keen to continue the impressive progress made over the previous couple of rounds Tom Tunstall and his Hardinge Doodson Motorsport team headed to the Norfolk circuit in a determined mood. With times always being tight around the 3.14km circuit, the team worked at optimising the set-up of their Honda CBR1000RR throughout the practice and qualifying sessions, posting a lap averaging just over 105mph Tunstall claimed 4th place of the Superbike Cup contenders, feeling confident of more to come: “To be honest I was scratching my head after the practice sessions to understand what we needed to do to improve the bike, but we got our heads together and went for a different setting in qualifying. It worked really well and once I got a feel for it my lap times improved. Its set us up well for tomorrows races and I’ve got the team to thank for that”. Tunstall was eager to celebrate his birthday by collecting some silverware. In race one, after only 3 of the 22 laps, Tunstall’s engine expired whilst holding a strong third place just behind Cup championship leader Gary Mason and Peter Hickman. Tom managed to stay aboard his machine but without a spare bike was forced to sit out the restarted race. “It’s incredibly frustrating, I’d got a good start and felt really dialled in, it went in a big way and fortunately the marshals got to it quickly as it had caught fire! It’s a bitter pill to swallow not getting back out there. The engine was well inside its mileage schedule I guess it’s just one of those things, fingers crossed we should get antoher engine in the bike for race two but it’ll be tight to get out there. With only two hours till race two the team worked frantically to prepare the team’s machine and with minutes to spare took their place on the grid. Another good start saw Tunstall slot into third place before being edged back to forth by race one winner Tommy Bridewell at the Esses. Lap seven saw Tunstall retake the position as he chased after Relentless Suzuki’s Atsushi Wantanabe setting a pace even faster than in qualifying. On lap 17 the pair pushed passed Buildbase Kawasaki rider Tristan Palmer. With two laps to go Chris Walker passed Tunstall and he was unable to respond but maintained his third place making it three podium finishes in the last three meetings. “It was a victory just getting out there. Once again the guys proved it’s a team sport. I felt really good on the bike and although I had to work my way through , my times were similar to the winner [Gary Mason]. “It’s a relief to get something from the weekend after the disappointment of this morning especially now we’re consistently on the pace. “With only a week before we’re scheduled to head up to the next round at Scotland we have a blown engine and one that is now due a rebuild. It will be an uphill struggle to regroup but as we’ve shown this weekend we never give up”. The sixth of the twelve round British Superbike championship takes place at Knockhill near Dunfermline in Scotland over the weekend 3rd-5th of July. More, from a press release issued by Steve Plater’s publicist: STEVE PLATER TAKES WIN AND CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD Steve Plater took both the win and the series lead when he snatched victory in the incident packed fifth round of the Fuchs/Silkolene British Supersport championship at Snetterton on Sunday to move to the top of the leaderboard on 95 points. Fresh from his successful trip to the Isle of Man TT races where he was acclaimed one of the best all round riders in the world, it was back to domestic action for the Woodhall spa rider who was determined to take a win at the Norfolk venue. Qualifying saw him head the times but a late challenge from Billy McConnell, Dan Linfoot and Tom Grant saw him bumped back to fourth place, although the times were very close with less than a second covering the top 12 riders. Following a heavy crash, Linfoot withdrew from the race leaving Plater to benefit and move into third place for the start of the 20-lap affair. “Having led for most of the first qualifying session I ended up in third place,” said the Lincolnshire star. “Final qualifying was damp because of an earlier shower but it almost dried out towards the end so I went out to see what the conditions were like. I was the fastest out there but no way could I post a faster time as there were still a couple of damp patches that could easily catch you out. “I am happy enough with a front row start as its all about getting off the line quickly and sticking with the front pack. It will be a close race for sure.” True to his word, Plater got away to a good start and settled into fourth place for the duration of the first two laps. He then made his move up into third and then on lap seven moved further forward past James Westmoreland into second place. A couple of laps later he hit the front and began to pull clear, looking to have the race in the bag. He didn’t have long to wait as the red flag halted proceedings on lap 13 and a result declared at two-thirds distance. This gave the multi-talented Lincolnshire rider the victory and also the championship lead, a top result for both Plater and his HM Plant Honda team. “That was a perfect result for me,” said the ever smiling Steve Plater. “I got my head down and made a much better first lap and then cracked on and managed to get past Westmoreland on the Triumph and settle down to reel in Billy McConnell who was unfortunate to eventually retire with a clutch problem. “Its mega for me to not just win but to get a maximum haul of points so that I am now leading the championship.” After five rounds of the championship in which he has scored two second places, an eleventh and two wins, Plater heads the rider standings with a 23 point advantage over McConnell. The next round is at Knockhill in Scotland, a venue that has seen many wins from the County ace over the years, he will be anxious to add a further win to his tally on July 6 when the series reaches its half way stage.