TOP FOUR TARGET FOR TEAM KAWASAKI

Steve Plater and Marty Craggill head to Oulton Park for Team Kawasaki's second British Superbike Championship encounter on the Cheshire circuit confident they can both post their best results of the series so far.

For Plater, currently in seventh place in the series standings in his first season of topflight competition, that means breaking into the top four for the first time.

"I feel as if I have been improving with every race," said Steve, from Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire. "I have a great team around me and they give me the confidence that I need to produce results. I like Oulton Park as a circuit and this time I am concentrating solely on the superbike races so I believe we can be up there with the front runners."

At the Oulton Park round in May Plater raced a Kawasaki ZX-9R to second place in the Superstock event, setting a new lap record in the process - this time 20-year-old Staffordshire rider Gary Mason will campaign the bike under the Hawk Racing banner, aiming to better the fifth place he scored at Silverstone.

Aussie Marty Craggill, deputising for the third time for regular teamster Peter Goddard, rates the Oulton circuit as one of the best in Britain and is looking forward to bettering his best result to date - a seventh place at Snetterton.

The 2.769 mile Oulton circuit brought Marty two top ten finishes last year despite the fact that he was far from fit, and he's determined to move further up the result sheet this time around. "I am getting more and more comfortable every time I race the bike so I am hopeful I'll be able to put in a couple of top sixers at least," said the double Australian Superbike Champion.