Steve Plater (born 22 August 1968, in Luton) is a former English motorcycle road racer. He was the 2009 British Supersport champion, and also finished as runner-up in the series twice in the late 1990s. In the British Superbike Championship he has 4 wins and 17 further podiums.
He won the prestigious Isle of Man Senior TT, North West 200 and also enjoyed success at Endurance racing. For 2015/2016, Plater is manager of a race-team, and rides in demonstration events. He lives in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, and is involved in property development with his father.
Race career
Having briefly raced speedway in his teens, he started his working life as a bricklayer, beginning racing in 1994 and winning his first ever race, at Cadwell Park.[1] In 1998 he won the British Powerbike championship, and only lost the more prestigious Supersport title on countback. He set an impressive pace at the 1999 Bol d'Or en route to finishing third on a Kawasaki, which led him to race one in the 2000 British Superbike Championship full-time, finishing 6th overall without a podium but with a string of 4th to 7th places. He missed much of 2001 through injury, but still took three podiums. 2002 was his strongest season to date, seeing him finish 5th overall on a Yamaha, with two late-season wins. In 2003 he rode a Honda to sixth overall, winning at Cadwell Park in 2003[2] )
He missed the start of 2006 due to injury,[3] but returned to win both Superbike races at the North West 200.[2] He won the 2007 Albacete 6-Hour Endurance race on a Kawasaki, teamed with Julian Mazuecos and Gwen Giabbani. He was voted Best Newcomer at the 2007 Isle of Man TT on Yamahas, having been mentored by former racer Mick Grant.[4]
During Thursday practice for the 2010 North West 200 Plater who had set the fastest time in Superbike practice on the Tuesday was injured in an accident. He suffering a broken arm when he came off his bike at Quarry Hill on the Coast Road section of the course.[10] Subsequent hospital examinations revealed that Plater had fractured his neck.[11]
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Plater became a motorcycle racing co-commentator/presenter,[12] and in 2015 was appointed as manager of the Prime Factors Racing team for road racing and Endurance.[13] He continues to ride in demonstration events.[14] He is currently a co-host on the podcast "The TT Podcast," on which he interviews persons and riders associated with Isle of Man TT.
