Steve Plater rode to a calculated win for AIM Yamaha in round nine of the Fuchs/Silkolene British Supersport championship at Cadwell Park on Bank Holiday Monday. But there was no luck for David Paton who was involved in a second corner crash on the first lap. The Woodhall Spa ace had plenty to smile as he celebrated his birthday with a race win and was presented with a bottle of champagne after being pronounced rider of the day by the Eurosport presenters. Plater had been on form throughout the weekend and held pole in final qualifying until the session was stopped because of a fire in the campsite which saw smoke billowing across the track along Park Straight. As the session continued Plater was caught out by a cold tyre and slid off at Barn Corner. Unable to improve his lap times he was relegated to third place for a front row start to Monday’s planned 16-lap race. As the race got underway Plater was a bit too keen to get started and nearly incurred a penalty for a jump-start. But the race was red-flagged almost immediately because of a two-rider crash at Charlies on the first lap. After a lengthy delay the race was re-started and run over 14 laps. This time Plater made no mistake at the start and slotted straight into second place behind Hudson Kennaugh. By lap five he had taken the lead with series leader Glen Richards following through. Richards began to challenge for the lead and eventually made his way past Plater on lap eight. But Plater was not to be denied his win on home tarmac and stuck with Richards eventually making his move along Park Straight to regain the lead, which he held to the chequered flag. Meanwhile David Paton had a torrid time in qualifying but eventually managed to make it onto the starting grid for Monday’s race. But his race was over by the time he got to Charlie’s on the first lap, as he was unable to avoid a fallen machine in the midst of the pack and was unfortunate to tip off. The race was immediately stopped to allow the recovery of the two riders and after spending some considerable time in the medical centre David returned to the paddock with just a few bruises. STEVE PLATER The crash was a get out of jail card for me because I jumped the start and would have incurred a penalty. But at the restart I got away well and sat behind Kennaugh through the first few corners and took the lead at Mansfield when he made a mistake. I dropped my pace a little bit to try and conserve my tyres and then Glen (Richards) came past. I just followed him and bided my time, as I knew I could pass him at some stage. I left it until the last lap and took him at Park Corner and kept him behind me to the chequered flag. DAVID PATON I think my qualifying problems are down to us not getting the bike perfect straight away and also I wasn’t riding it particularly well to start with. I think it will take me a wee bit more time to adjust to the Supersport machine although I was making progress by the end of qualifying and the bike started to feel a bit better. The next round is at Croft in North Yorkshire but Steve Plater will be absent as he is on World Endurance duties with GMT94 Yamaha for the 24 hour Bol d’Or race. The team will run with just one rider, Connor Cummings who is to have an outing on the AIM Yamaha Superbike to familiarise himself with the bike in preparation for the Macau GP in November. More, from a press release issued by CRA: Central Roadracing Association wraps up the fourth round of racing action at Brainerd International Raceway, August 22-24. Riders gathered for an intense weekend of racing the long course at BIR. Racing festivities included fierce Sprints, Turtle and Hare and the Team and Solo Endurance races. In the Supersport Expert sprints, Robert Jensen dominated the field with an impressive lead over the competition in the Middleweight and Unlimited sprints with a flying lap of 1:39.473. In Heavyweight Supersport, John Staska held off Shane Fletcher and Jessica Zalusky for the Expert win, while Phil Batzlaff took the checkered for the Novices. In the Superbike Expert sprints, Robert Jensen dominated the Middleweight, while Shawn Conrad took the checkered for Unlimited. In Heavyweight Superbike, John Staska took home another win for the Experts will fielding off Chad Bakkene and Jessica Zalusky, while Novice Gerry Signorelli took the checkered. Fierce racing grew, as Brad Zajic and Chad Bakkene exchanged wins in the Grand Prix sprints for the Experts, while Nick Salmen, Jack Mack and John Wolff finished on top for Novices. In the Lightweight Expert races, Tony Williams, Brad Zajic and Bryan Okubo all exchanged impressive wins. In the Ultralight sprints, Experts Paul Jensen and Tony Williams finished on top, while Novice Gabriel Blevins lead the Novices every race. In the Team Endurance, Shane Keaveny and Robert Oliva took the overall team win. The points are getting close for the Overall Championship for the Experts and Novices and will be decided in September. This Fall CRA will debut as the first motorcycle roadrace on September 19-21, on BIR’s new short course, which is 13 turns and 2.5 mile in length. It will be the last round of racing for the 2008 CRA Championship. For more information on racing, volunteering or coming as a spectator, visit www.cra-mn.com. More, from a press release issued by Conor Cummins’ publicist: Cummins impresses on Henderson R1 Cup debut Conor Cummins secured a last minute deal to compete in the Henderson Yamaha R1 Cup at Cadwell Park on Bank Holiday Monday and the Manxman didn’t disappoint as he swept to a close and hard fought 7th place. The deal, put together by Yamaha boss Rob McElnea, saw Conor sit on the bike for the first time in free practice but he soon got to grips with the machine and fully justified the faith shown in him. With only two 25-minute sessions for the R1 Cup, Conor was soon in the groove and slotted in to 6th place in free practice. Although he slipped back a place in qualifying, he lapped quicker with a time of 1m33.205s and closed the gap to the pole position time of Jon Kirkham. Seventh on the grid also meant he was well in touch with the main championship protagonists. The race itself turned out to be very much a stop-start affair with the pace car interrupting proceedings and it was eventually red flagged on the 7th lap at the second time of asking. Conor made a fine start to the race and immediately put himself in to contention as he battled with series regulars Gary Mason, Adrian Coates and Sam Warren. Speaking afterwards, it was a satisfied Conor that said: “It’s been a really good weekend for me and I’ve throughly enjoyed myself. I wasn’t sure how everything would turn out but I spoke to Rob Mac and he was keen to see me out on the bike so I packed my bags on Thursday and headed straight to the circuit. Obviously, I’m well used to the R1 Yamaha but it was still a bit new to me and I needed to work a bit on set-up to begin with. It was important that I kept my face famaliar to people in the BSB paddock and show them what I can do and 7th was a good start. I was battling it out with all the championship front runners and was only a few tenths away from a podium spot so a big thank you to Rob for giving me the opportunity.” “I’ve been speaking to a lot of people this last week and have now agreed deals that will see me out on the track for the rest of the year. I’ll be riding for the AIM Yamaha team at the Macau GP and will race the machine in the next round of the British Superbike Championship at Croft to get fully dialled in with the bike prior to the race in the Far East. I’ll also be contesting the final two rounds of the Superstock Championship for Team Black Horse Racing Yamaha so a big thank you must also go to Alastair Flanagan and Ian Lougher for all their help and assistance.” Conor now has a three-week break before his next meeting, with round 10 of the British Supersport Championship taking place at Croft on Sunday September 14th. He’s also keen to compete at the International Gold Cup meeting at Scarborough and is looking for the loan of a 250cc or 600cc machine. More, from a press release issued by USGPRU: Our days in the Sun Zoom-Zoom Track Days and Reno-Fernley Raceway hosted the 6th round of the Western Region USGPRU series. This was the first time Zoom-Zoom track days attempted to run a full race weekend, and they clearly did their homework as the weekend went off without a hitch! The big events of the weekend were the Moriwaki MD250H races. With two rounds of races, there was a huge $20,000 purse up for grabs. In the first race, Justin Ducut charged out to lead the pack. He held that lead until lap 3 when Jake Lewis muscled by and took his turn up front. The 5-bike battle for the lead raged on with Ducut and Lewis mixing it up with Miles Thornton, Ryan Matter, and Kris Turner. Ryan Matter shuffled up to the front on lap 6, only to be squeezed out of the lead on the penultimate lap by Thornton. It was anybody’s race to win, but Ryan Matter dove back under Thornton on the final few turns and held on for the win. Thornton and Lewis took the final two podium slots. The Rising Sun Cycles 125GP race saw the riders take the green flag with Jake Lewis jumping out to get the hole shot, followed closely by Miles Thorton and Royce McClean. Royce rode his Yamaha hard, and came around to end the first lap leading the field. He was closely followed by Lewis, Thorton, Garrett Gerloff, and Ryan Matter. The group of four racers struggled to keep pace with McClean who started to gap the field while turning laps in the low 1:51¹s. At the halfway point, the battle raged on as Matter made a move to pass both Thorton and Lewis. His second place was short lived however as he was relegated back to third when he ran wide in T1. As the riders came into view on the final lap, it was finally clear that Thorton was in command of the 2nd position over Matter. Crossing 4th was Garret Gerloff and 5th went to Jake Lewis. Royce McClean had pulled out a clean 10-second lead and cruised in for the win and set a new lap record of 1:51.036! Dylan Olsen took the hole shot in the Rising Sun GP250 race with Vince Rolleri, Royce McLean, and Miles Thornton right behind him. Vince made a clean pass around Dylan, and appeared to be in command of the race for a few laps. Miles Thornton crashed on lap 2 when he tucked the front end of his Honda in the tricky back section. Vince started to slow down, and Dylan repassed him for the lead on lap 4. Royce wasted no time and got by Vince and set out to catch Dylan at the front. On lap 10, it seemed Royce might be able to use the agility of the smaller 125 to surpass the power of Dylan’s 250 in the tighter section on the hilltop. It was not meant to be though as Royce could only manage to pass once, only to be repassed by Dylan. It was close at the line though as Dylan finished only a couple of tenths ahead of Royce. Rolleri held on to third place. The second Moriwaki MD250H race was an exciting race to finish the day. The kids had a bit of wind to watch out for as the gustiness of the desert started to pick up. Jake Lewis led the pack into the first turn followed closely by Ducut, Gerloff, and Matter. The usual battle for the lead was not to be seen though as Jake picked up the pace and stretched his lead. The real battle was for 2nd as Ducut, Turner, Thorton and Matter swapped positions numerous times. It was an exciting last lap as Jake took the win followed closely by Matter, Turner, Thornton, and Ducut. Moriwaki MD250H Powered by HONDA race 1 results: 1. Ryan Matter (Mor) 2. Miles Thornton (Mor) 3. Jake Lewis (Mor) 4. Justin Ducut (Mor) 5. Kris Turner (Mor) 6. Garrett Gerloff (Mor) 7. Lex Hartl (Mor) 8. Dusty Pares (Mor) ­ DNF Moriwaki MD250H Powered by HONDA race 2 results: 1. Jake Lewis (Mor) 2. Ryan Matter (Mor) 3. Kris Turner (Mor) 4. Miles Thornton (Mor) 5. Justin Ducut (Mor) 6. Garrett Gerloff (Mor) 7. Lex Hartl (Mor) 8. Dusty Pares (Mor) ­ DNS Rising Sun Cycles 125GP race results: 1. Royce McLean (Yam) 2. Miles Thornton (Hon) 3. Ryan Matter (Hon) 4. Garrett Gerloff (Hon) 5. Jake Lewis (Hon) 6. Lloyd Worrell (Hon) 7. Leandro Mercado (Hon) 8. Michael Martin (Hon) 9. Erik Dadej (Hon) 10. Stewart Aitken-Cade (Hon) 11. Lex Hartl (Hon) 12. Otavio Luccini (Hon) 13. Shellie Matthews (Hon) 14. Cameron Gish (Hon) 15. Kris Turner (Mor) DNS 16. Dusty Pares (Mor) DNS 17. Justin Ducut (Mor) DNS Moto Liberty 250GP race results: 1. Dylan Olsen (Yam) 2. Royce McLean (Yam) 3. Vincent Rolleri (Yam) 4. Leandro Mercado (Hon) 5. Cameron Gish (Hon) 6. Otavio Luccini (Hon) 7. Mike Danielson (Yam) 8. David Matthews (Yam) 9. Bruce Lind (Yam) 10. Erik Warren (Hon) 11. Anthony Digati (Yam) 12. Mike Rajotte (Yam) 13. Miles Thornton (Yam) DNF 14. Stewart Aitken-Cade (Hon) DNS