World Endurance Champions SERT crashed out of today’s final round of the World Endurance Championship in Qatar, but rejoined the race only to retire later with bike damage incurred in the accident. Team riders Mathieu Lagrive, Julien Da Costa and Guillaume Dietrich put in a total of 15 laps into the eight-hour event: Lagrive crashed after setting the fastest lap of the race with a 2:02.526, Da Costa then took over and then suffered mechanical problems less than three laps later. The race was won by Yamaha Austria Racing Team, three laps clear of Folch Yamaha. Qatar Endurance Results: 1 Yamaha Austria Racing Team (Yamaha) 226 laps, 2 Yamaha Folch Endurance (Yamaha) 223, 3 Maco Moto Racing (Yamaha) 222, 4 Bolliger Team Switzerland (Kawasaki) 221, 5 RMT 21 (Honda) 221, 6 Qert IJT (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 221, 7 18 Sapeurs Pompiers (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 220, 8 RT Racing Team MotoVirus (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 220, 9 LGT 57 (Yamaha) 217, 10 Team Endurance Moto 45 (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 217. Final World Championship points: 1 SERT 1 109, 2 Yamaha Austria 95, 3 Yamaha Folch 72, 4 SERT 2 63, 5 Team Kawasaki France 57, 6 Bolliger Team Switzerland 57, 7 RMT 21 Racing 54, 8 Phase One Endurance 5q1, 9 RT Racing Team MotoVirus 45, 10 Dream Honda Racing 11 30. More, from a press release issued by Honda: Results Doha 8Hours, Doha, Qatar Pos. / Team / Type / Laps / Total Time / Delay / Best / Riders 1 / Yamaha Austria Racing Team / YAMAHA R1 / 226 / 8:01:08.079 / /2:03.106 / JERMAN Igor / MARTIN Steve / PLATER Steve 2 / Yamaha Folch Endurance / YAMAHA R1 / 223 / 8:01:09.335 / 3 L / 2:03.357 / RIBALTA Daniel / VALLCANERAS Pedro 3 / Maco Moto Racing / YAMAHA R1 / 222 / 8:02:14.571 / 4 L / 2:03.048 / PRIDMORE Jason / HINTERREITER Thomas / SMRZ Jakub 4 / Bolliger Team SwitzerlandMORILLON / KAWASAKI ZX 10 R / 221 / 8:01:44.931 / 5 L / 2:04.362 / MORILLON David / MUFF Patric / SAIGER Horst 5 / RMT #21 / HONDA CBR 1000 / 221 / 8:02:51.339 / 1:06.408 / 2:05.322 / VOS Arie / VEHNIAINEN Kari / SEIDEL Matti 6 / Q.E.R.T. IJT / SUZUKI GSXR / 221 / 8:03:13.459 / 1:28.528 / 2:05.894 / AL NAIMI Mashel / AL MANNAI Rashid / DELHALLE Anthony 7 / 18 Sapeurs – Pompiers / SUZUKI GSXR 1000 / 220 / 8:01:41.875 / 6 L / 2:06.224 / MOLINIER Stephane / SAVARY Michael / AL MALKI Abdulrahman 8 / RT Racing Team MotoVirus / SUZUKI GSXR 1000 / 220 / 8:02:56.019 / 1:14.144 / 2:06.332 / DEVOYON Jean Louis / CHEVRE Raphael / JOND Frederic 9 / Team LTG 57 / YAMAHA R1 / 217 / 8:01:39.851 / 9 L / 2:04.163 / LALEVEE Micheal / LEBLANC Gregory / HUVIER Cyril 10 / Team Endurance Moto 45 / SUZUKI GSXR / 217 / 8:03:10.747 / 1:30.896 / 2:07.600 / JAULNEAU Nicolas / LAGRIVE Alexandre / PARISSE Emmanuel 11 / Q.E.R.T. / SUZUKI GSXR 1000 / 215 / 8:01:46.803 / 11 L / 2:08.583 / Al NAIMI Sultan / AL KHALAF Mahmoud / AL HAMMADI Ahmad 12 / ABG Performance / SUZUKI GSXR / 213 / 8:03:07.799 / 13 L / 2:07.001 / GAZIELLO Franck / HEDELIN Camille / AUGER Fabrice 13 / La Fortezza Amadeus Xone / YAMAHA R1 / 209 / 8:01:12.603 / 17 L / 2:05.248 / TESSARI Paulo / GRUY William / ALDROVANDI Alessio 14 / NBK Kawasaki / KAWASAKI ZX 10 R / 208 / 8:01:17.171 / 18 L / 2:09.858 / AL MURAIKHI Mohammed / AL MALKI Nasser / ABDALA Ahmed 15 / Nederstaete Racing / YAMAHA R1 / 201 / 8:01:57.475 / 25 L / 2:06.666 / HOOGENRAAD Martin / VELTHUYZEN Mike / VAN VOSSEL Final Championship standings 1 Suzuki Endurance Racing Team 1 109 2 Yamaha Austria Racing Team 95 3 Yamaha Folch Endurance 72 4 Suzuki Endurance Racing Team 2 63 5 Team Kawasaki France 57 6 Bolliger Team Switzerland 57 7 RMT 21 Racing 54 8 Phase One Endurance 51 9 RT Racing Team & Moto Virus 45 10 Maco Moto Racing 42 11 Dream Honda Racing 11 30 12 Yoshimura Suzuki with Denso 24 13 Endurance Moto 38 24 14 Acropolis Moto Expert 22 15 AM Moto Racing 22 More, from a press release issued by Steve Plater’s publicist: STEVE PLATER WINS AT QATAR Woodhall Spa motorcycle racing star Steve Plater rounded off his season with a win when he completed the final round of the FIM World Endurance Championship at the Losail circuit in Qatar to take a decisive victory for Yamaha Austria (YART) and secure the runner up spot in the world championship. Qualifying went well for the team, which consisted of Steve Plater, Igor Jerman and Steve Martin, who qualified in second place for the start of the gruelling eight hour race just behind the champions elect, SERT Suzuki. “All three of us lapped very well during qualifying,” explained Plater. “We found a good set up and were optimistic of a good result. The weather was warm but very windy at times during free practice and qualifying but we all came through it ok and posted some quick times to make a start from second place.” Team manager Mandy Kainz gave instructions not to risk anything but to go for a good result and bring the bike home safely to consolidate the team’s second place in the championship sand Plater was given the honour of starting the race for the final outing of the season. He moved into second place on the first lap and took the lead on lap three, battling throughout with Matthew Lagrive (SERT), Jakub Scmertz (Maco Moto) plus Glen Richards (Phase One). A dramatic few laps followed resulting in a crash for Glen Richards. Plater was very lucky to avoid hitting him and decided not to risk the same fate and sensibly opted to settle into a rhythm and maintain third place. More drama was to come when Lagrive crashed, which put Plater up to second place by the end of the first session as he handed over the bike to Steve Martin. The team then decided to push for the win and entered into a race-long battle for position with team Maco Moto who were also contesting the runner up spot in the championship. The battle continued throughout, with the lead changing hands between the two teams on many occasions. But with 90 minutes remaining YART began to pull away and built up a substantial lead, which they held to the chequered flag to take the win and clinch second, place overall for Yamaha Austria (YART). “I started the race and then rode the final hour to finish it as well,” said Plater.” It is awesome to end my season on the top step of the podium. Apart from Suzuka, I have led every World Endurance race this year but until now have missed out on the win. This weekend more than makes up for that and it is an excellent end to a very productive season for me.” Steve won three of the four big races at the North West 200 meeting in Ireland in May before going on to win the Junior TT race in the Isle of Man. He also won two British Supersport races this year and numerous podiums along the way and now this win in the World Endurance series rounds off his most successful season to date. Next season is already mapped out for the Lincolnshire star who will line up with the Louth based HM Plant Honda team to contest the British Supersport championship plus the Isle of Man TT races and the North West 200. It is unclear at the moment which team Plater will ride for in the 2009 World Endurance championship but he hopes to be in a position to announce his plans for the World Series shortly. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Yamaha sweeps Qatar 8 hour podium After eight intense hours around the impressive Losail circuit in the Qatari desert the YZF-R1 claimed all three podium spots in the final round of six in the Endurance FIM World Championship. Yamaha Austria Racing Team, represented by Igor Jerman, Steve Plater and Steve Martin finished ahead of Yamaha Folch Endurance and Maco Moto Racing. For Jerman and Martin it was a case of sweet revenge after narrowly missing out on victory in Losail twelve months previously. Their triumph, together with Plater on this occasion, gave YART their first set of winner’s garlands in 2008 and confirmed their vice-champion standing in the ‘08 competition. The team ended the meeting three laps ahead of Folch Endurance; the Spanish duo of Daniel Ribalta and Pedro Vallcaneras losing precious time to a rear wheel problem. The crew were nevertheless pleased to end their first season at world level with a decent third place overall in the championship. Small problems impeded the progress of Maco Moto Racing but Jason Pridmore and Thomas Hinterreiter were joined by WSB runner Jakub Smrz for a final and memorable podium placing with the R1. The Qatar event represented the third consecutive podium finish for YART as they took 2nd position at Oschersleben in August and 3rd spot at the Bol d’Or in France in September.