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.
Picture credits: Podium - Helen Pask. Action - Turn One Photography
