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Team Virgin Yamaha sponsor, Sir Richard Branson was at Brands Hatch to watch his team and he would not have been disappointed.
After a torrid battle throughout the race Team Virgin`s Steve Plater was leading on the last lap with John Reynolds second, Steve mindful that he would have to protect the racing line through the last three turns closed the door through Stirlings. The line was too tight however and he lost a fractionally small amount of drive out of the turn – it was enough for Reynolds to just be able to edge his way to the front.
The pair were separated across the line by just 0.2s, the width of a front wheel.
Speaking after the race Steve said: ‘It’s so hard to process what went on in that race because it was so manic!
‘As soon as I was in the lead I knew the other guys would be trying to chase me down so I tried my hardest to put together a string of fast laps. The pace we were doing was really hot and nobody could make a big break.
‘We knew it would come down to the last few turns. I tried to protect the lead but just made the smallest error at the end – we are so close after just a handful of races that the win it’s tasteable!’
Meanwhile his team mate Kiwi, Simon Crafar enjoyed a great result with a fine fifth place finish in the race, carving his way back through the field from 13th on the grid – underlining the stunning performance of the all-new Yamaha R1.
Simon was able to pick his way through the slower traffic ahead and was visibly faster than almost anybody on track into the turns, Crafar was pushing the front of the bike by an astonishing amount.
Speaking after the race he said: ‘The bike felt even better than the last time I rode it. I was able to make my time through the pack work and could really use the power of the R1. We have taken the development of the bike on even further with the work we have done here. It showed that we are able to take the R1 on to become and even better race package.’
The second race saw both riders get caught by traffic in the opening turn melee, holding up their progress through the pack. When the pace car was called out due to a fallen rider on lap five the riders were forced to hold position for a full four-laps while the wreckage was cleared away, by the time the re-start happened the tyres had lost a lot of operating temperature – crucial for a fast time.
Steve managed to close right up on the five-bike freight train at the front but couldn’t find a way past whilst Simon closed down everybody in front to finish in ninth place.
Race One Result:
Winner: John Reynolds, 2 Steve Plater, Yamaha, 3 Michael Rutter, 4 Paul Brown, 5 Simon Crafar, Yamaha, 6 Glen Richards, 7 Dean Ellison, 8 Giovanni Bussei, 9 Shane Byrne, 10 Dean Thomas
Race Two Result:
Winner: Sean Emmett, 2 Hislop, 3 Rutter, 4 Reynolds, 5 Byrne, 6 Steve Plater Yamaha, 7 Brown, 8 Bussei, 9 Simon Crafar Yamaha
Championship points after six rounds:
1 Hislop 213, 2 Emmett 197, 3 Rutter 162.5, 4 Steve Plater Yamaha 147, 5 Reynolds 143.5, 6 Brown 126.5, 7 Byrne 117.5, 8 Simon Crafar Yamaha 89.
