STEVE PLATER BOL D’OR 2008 Following a few problems throughout the 24-hour Bol d’Or race at Magny-Cours, Steve Plater and the GMT94 Yamaha team completed the penultimate round of the World Endurance championship in sixth place on Sunday. After qualifying in second place, just 200th of a second away from pole, teammate Sebastien Gimbert started the race for the team and led briefly in the early stages. But after refuelling and handing over the David Checa the problems began for the team. Just two hours into the race a stone holed the radiator and an unscheduled pit stop to replace the radiator followed. Next up on the bike was Woodhall Spa ace Steve Plater who eventually fought his way back up to third. But after handing over the Gimbert once again the bad luck continued. A riderless bike took Gimbert out as he tipped into the hairpin and he was very lucky not to be badly injured. Once more a fight back began and the team managed to get back up to sixth position as the light faded. Going into the night session the weather took a turn for the worse and the rain continued until daybreak. Because of his injuries Gimbert was only able to complete a further two sessions and Plater rode three double sessions of two hours each, which made it a long and exhausting night. The race continued throughout the morning and GMT94 finally crossed the finish line for sixth place at 2pm GMT. “We had a very eventful time of it out there,” said Plater. “Sebastien Gimbert is a bit battered but he will be ok for his World Superbike ride with the team at the weekend, he was very lucky as it was a big crash. “The rain didn’t help our cause either, and doing a double stint on the bike each time made it seem forever till the chequered flag was waved at us. I did make good time through the night but it was obvious we were never going to be in contention for the win which we should have been.” Steve returns to the Yamaha Austria team for the final round at Doha/Losail where, although he cannot win the title, the team are still in contention for the runner-up spot. Plater returns to domestic action with AIM Yamaha next weekend where he will be contesting the penultimate round of the British Supersport championship on Sunday, September 28. He won the race last time out at Cadwell and will be looking for more of the same at Silverstone. More, from a press release issued by Jason O’Halloran’s publicist: JASON O’HALLORAN CONTINUES TO FAST TRACK HIS ROOKIE SUPERBIKE SEASON WITH POINT SCORING DEBUT IN BRITISH SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP Rd 10, 2008 British Superbike Championship Croft Circuit, North Yorkshire, England 12 14 September 2008 Jason O’Halloran’s rookie Superbike season continues to move at a rapid pace as the 20-year-old Wollongong rider made his British Superbike Championship debut at the Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire over the weekend. The meeting was the first of three guest rides he has for the privateer SMT Honda team aboard their 2007 model CBR1000RR’s in the remaining rounds of the championship. Making the most of the opportunity he came to grips with a new circuit, new team, Pirelli tyres and being part of the toughest domestic Superbike Championship around the world. Varying weather conditions plagued the circuit during the opening practice sessions with O’Halloran moving to twelfth overall before embarking on the three-tier F1 style qualifying system used in the BSB. He broke into the top ten during the opening section of qualifying, posting the ninth fastest time. The shorter second session was hampered by a rear tyre that spun on the rim and dropped him down to fifthteenth and out of the final top ten shoot out. Starting from the fourth row of the grid, O’Halloran made a cautious start off the line and found himself caught in traffic on the opening laps. Once he gathered his rhythm he moved into a four-way battle for tenth, but his race came to a premature end when he lost the front end and crashed, unhurt, on lap 13 of 20. A problem with the traction control system emerged during the warm up lap for race two, with his bike not running correctly at low revs. Trying to find the cause for the fault O’Halloran had to switch off the traction control system and as a result cost him valuable time in the opening laps of the race. Once he became comfortable with riding the bike in this manner he settled into his race pace and again moved forward through the field eventually tagging onto the four-rider group battling for twelfth. By race end he took fifteenth and a well earned championship point. O’Halloran will stay in the UK to prepare for the upcoming BSB round at Silverstone before returning to Australia to compete in the Superbike support races at the Australian GP at Phillip Island. He will then return to England to take part in the final BSB round at Brands Hatch (October 12) before returning home to take in the final round of the Australian Superbike Championship at Eastern Creek on October 19. Jason “While the results I got may not have been exactly what I hoped for, the weekend as a whole went well and I’m definitely looking forward to riding for SMT at the final two rounds at Silverstone and Brands Hatch. It is another great learning experience for me to be part of the BSB. I’m with a small but well organised privateer team and have had to quickly find my way around the bike, a new circuit and Pirelli tyres as opposed to the Dunlops I use in Australia. That plus the changing weather conditions over the weekend made it tough, but I’m very happy with how we progressed. Being as high as ninth in the opening section of the qualifying system was an encouraging result and it was a shame that the rear tyre spun on the rim in the second part of that session and I slipped to fifteenth on the sheets. In the opening race I was a little too cautious on the opening lap and having to come from the fourth row of the grid I was caught up with a lot of traffic. I worked my way into a four way battle for tenth, but unfortunately I lost the front end entering the Complex section and crashed on lap 13. We had an electrical fault with the bike on the warm up lap for race two and the bike didn’t want to rev properly. I turned off the traction control as I tried to work out what the fault was and basically ran the whole race with no traction control, which around here is something that you do need. As a result I lost a bit of time in the opening laps as I tried to get to grips with what was happening and once I was comfortable with that I put my head down and started to make my way forward again. I managed to latch onto the group battling for twelfth which was led by Atsushi Watanabe on the factory Rizla Suzuki. By the end of the weekend I feel we have found a better reference point with the set up of the bike, plus I am now more prepared for the depth of competition and how to approach this championship.” Next round Rd 11, 26 – 28 September at Silverstone, Northampton, England More, from a press release issued by Keith Amor’s publicist: Amor wraps up Irish road race season with more wins Keith Amor ensured his 2008 Irish National Road Race Championship campaign ended on a high note on Sunday when he took two firsts and two seconds at the season ending Killalane meeting. The Falkirk ace took victory in both of the Supersport 600cc races and backed this up with runner up spot in both the Open and Grand Final races. Amor opened his account with a start to finish victory in the Non-Championship 600cc race and he followed this up with a very close second to season long rival Ryan Farquhar in the Open race. Keith only lost out by 0.144s but he got his revenge in the 600cc Championship, again taking the lead at the first corner on the opening lap. He was never headed, thus taking his second win of the meeting and he finished his weekend off with another close second, again behind Farquhar, in the Grand Final. The results confirmed Keith’s runner-up spots in both the Open and Supersport Irish National Road Race Championships, an excellent achievement in his first full season on the public roads. Speaking about the weekend, Keith commented: “Aye, it’s been a good day here at Killalane and I’ve really enjoyed it. The circuit was a really good one to ride on and it suited my style with it being quite technical and fast and flowing. The wee 600cc Honda was flying and never missed a beat so I was able to take two start to finish victories. In the first Superbike race, one of the fairing brackets came loose so I had to back off a little bit but I still managed to grab a close second.” “In the Grand Final, I had another good scrap with Ryan and there was nothing in it but I made a couple of mistakes at a couple of the road ends and rather than risk doing anything daft in the last road race of the season, I settled for second place. Finishing runner up in both the 600cc and Open Championships was also a bonus to it’s a big thank you to everyone in the team for all their hard work.” “The Irish fans, both North and South of the border, have been tremendous this year and have made my first full year on the National roads a really special experience so it’s big thank you to them as well. The Hondas have performed brilliantly for me at all of the meetings so I must also take my hat off to all of my sponsors especially Wilson Craig, Phoenix Honda, Dunlop tyres and Leo Vince everyone single one of them has played a part in the success this year and without them it just wouldn’t have happened.”