41st Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix Macau, China November 15, 2007 Provisional Qualifying Results: 1. Steve Plater (Yam YZF-R1), 2:27.986 2. John McGuinness (Hon CBR1000RR), 2:28.807 3. Michael Rutter (Kaw ZX-10R), 2:29.137 4. Guy Martin (Hon CBR1000RR), 2:29.673 5. Thomas Hinterreiter (Yam YZF-R1), 2:30.212 6. Jeremy Toye (Suz GSX-R1000), 2:32.055 7. Mark Miller (Hon CBR1000RR), 2:32.203 8. Steve Allan (Yam YZF-R6), 2:32.440 9. Ian Hutchinson (Hon CBR1000RR), 2:32.516 10. Les Shand (Hon CBR1000RR), 2:32.612 18. John Haner (Suz GSX-R1000), 2:37.634 27. Jimmy Moore (Kaw ZX-6R), 2:45.498 More, from a press release issued by the Macau Grand Prix Press Office: Plater Looking for Repeat Success in Macau Steve Plater, winner of last year’s Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix left it late to grab provisional pole position for Saturday’s 41st running of the Far East Classic. The 35-year-old Lincolnshire racer took the AIM Racing Yamaha 1000 to the top of the qualifying leaderboard after the first of two sessions with a lap at 2:27.986 seconds, just under last year’s pole-setting time (set by Michael Rutter). Plater, battered and bruised after being knocked from his machine during last weekend’s Endurance World Championship round at Doha, shrugged off the aches and pains to show he means to follow up last year’s surprise win. John McGuinness, the Isle of Man TT lap record holder, was second fastest on the Stobart Vent Axia Honda 1000 by over four fifths of a second with Michael Rutter on the AVIVA Kawasaki, looking for a record-breaking seventh win in this event third quickest more than three tenths of a second behind him. It looks like being a good meeting for the AIM Racing squad with Steve Allan, the 33-year-old from Perth, Scotland, quickest in the separate 600 Class. Allan, like Plater riding for the Scottish-based team, has won this Class for the past two years and is almost six seconds a lap faster than his closest rival, the German Rico Penzkofer’s Yamaha. These times could all change though in the second and deciding timed session tomorrow (Friday) morning.