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Kiwi, Simon Crafar and Team Virgin Yamaha team mate Steve Plater both stood on the podium at Donnington.
The riders were in amazing form on the all-new Yamaha R1 Superbikes with Plater tasting glory first in race one, just missing out on the machine’s first ever win by 0.3s – less than the width of a front wheel.
Simon was flying on his bike too, making up places until a collision with Karl Harris forced both riders off the track on lap 11.
In the second race it was Simon who turned on the pace with his brilliant ride through the pack to a fine third, scoring another podium for the team and proving the pace he has found through extensive development with his bikes even further.
He said: ‘We have really come a long way with the bike and here this weekend we tried a couple of changes that cured the problems I was having with the front end. Straight away I was happier on the bike and I think that was reflected in the race results here this weekend.
‘This is a great way for us to continue with the all-new bike. It is always difficult to get a bike up to speed but this is such a good base machine that what we are achieving is really coming together out on track in a very small period of time. I still have things I want to try with the bike – there is more to come for sure.
‘Standing on the podium felt so good!
Now it’s full-on for the next round in a weeks time at Oulton Park and we hope to continue the form there too.’
The last time Simon was on that podium he was on the top step after his spectacular ride in the 500 GP when he set a lap time that still stands
Race one result:
Winner: Shane Byrne, 2 Steve Plater , 3 Steve Hislop, 4 Michael Rutter, 5 Sean Emmett, 6 Glen Richards, 7 Dean Thomas, 8 Dean Ellison, 9 Paul Brown, 10 Paul Jones.
Race two result:
Winner: Rutter, 2 Byrne, 3 Simon Crafar [NZL], 4 Emmett, 5 Brown, 6 Hislop, 7 Steve Plater, 8 Richards, 9 Thomas, 10 Ellison
Championship points after three rounds:
Hislop 121, Emmett 98, Rutter 82, Byrne 76, Steve Plater 75, Reynolds 69, Brown 64, Simon Crafar 45.
