Steve Plater pulls out all the stops to extend championship lead
Another spectacular performance from 2009 Isle of Man TT Champion Steve Plater saw him extend his advantage in the British National Superstock 1000cc title battle.
Plater, who will be out to defend his championship and Senior victory during the 2010 TT, finished a close second in Monday’s race at Oulton Park. His nearest rival for the title, Howie Mainwaring, could only manage fifth, which allowed Plater to extend his lead in he championship to 19 points.
In qualifying, Plater could only manage fifth on the grid with his HM Plant Honda, and when the 15-lap race got under way the Lincolnshire star fell back to eighth.
He gradually overhauled his rivals, including fellow TT star Ian Hutchinson, before taking second place away from Tristan Palmer. Plater was left with a mountain to climb, as leader Jon Kirkham had pulled out a huge advantage. His job of catching Kirkham was made all the harder by Palmer, who was determined to challenge Plater for the second place.
However, Plater showed the grit and determination which has become his trademark to shake of Palmer on lap 13 and really begin his chase of the leader.
On the final lap, Plater had the gap down to just one second and, arriving at Lodge Corner for the last time, he was within touching distance. Smelling the victory, Plater pulled out all the stops on the drag to the flag, but was just pipped to the post as Kirkham held on to cross the finish line just two tenths of a second ahead.
Plater said:
“The most important thing is that I have extended my championship lead. After qualifying I realised I wasn’t going to get away at the front so just basically used my head and stayed out of trouble.”
“I was quite comfy at the pace I was running at, but had to push quite hard in places to make my move early on. I am happy enough with the result as I didn’t expect to come away with second place as easily as that to be honest.”
“Maybe if we had another lap I could have done a bit more, but I have extended my championship lead to 19 points so I have to be happy with that.”