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British SuperBike 2000 - Snetterton
| Team Kawasaki newcomer Marty Craggill
scored the team's only superbike points of the weekend, finishing seventh on his debut as
stand-in for Peter Goddard, but crashed out on the opening lap of race two. Plater slid off at Russell Bend in the first superbike race and suffered clutch and tyre troubles which forced him to retire from the second. In race one Craggill missed out on a top six placing by 43 thousandths of a second following a race-long battle with Scot John Crawford decided only on the run-in to the finish line. "The bike was perfect around virtually the whole circuit but a little slow out of the final corner. I got past John going in but he was able to go by on the drag to the line," said Craggill who is standing in for Peter Goddard while he rides for the Kawasaki Racing Team in the World Superbike Championship at Valencia in Spain. "Considering that this is my first race on a superbike since last September and I am not really race fit, I am pretty pleased but I know I can go much better than that," he added. Plater was lying in eighth place when he came to grief at Russell Bend. "I got on the gas too early and the rear end just went away. I was on my ear before I even felt it sliding," said a rueful Steve. Team Kawasaki found themselves unable to add to their championship points score in an incident-packed second race which saw Craggill crash on the opening lap and Plater retire from with two laps to go. Craggill was unhurt save for a bruised hip when he was flung from his machine in a high-side crash on the exit of the right hander at the Esses. "I was trying to go too fast too soon and the tyre just wasn't ready," said a disappointed Craggill. "I had been looking forward to improving on my first race result so I'm not happy at all." After making a good start Plater found himself in the thick of a battle with former supersport rival John Crawford and had just taken him for sixth place when he struck trouble. "I lost the clutch and had to stamp it through the gears," explained Steve. "At the same time the tyre began to shred. I struggled on for a while but was eventually forced to stop." Team Harris Honda Britain rider, Shane Byrne, was injured in a first lap crash at Snetterton. The 23-year-old from Sittingbourne was taken to Norwich hospital with abdominal injuries after the incident in which he was knocked off by privateer, John Crockford, crashing in front of him and then run over by another rider. He has a suspected ruptured gall bladder and will be kept in hospital for 24-48 hours for observation. The two races were won by Chris Walker and John Reynolds, allowing Reynolds to extend his series lead to 21 points over Neil Hodgson, who was second in both outings. Byrne’s Harris Honda team-mate, Sean Emmett, finished twelfth in race one but was forced to retire from the second race with rear end handling problems. Emmett’s mechanics fitted a new rear Dunlop after he pulled into the pits on lap six but the Surrey rider retired four laps later. Results Race One: Race Two: Championship points: |
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