So who lines up on HM Plant Hondas at Brands Hatch?

HM Plant Honda haven’t announced who will replace banned Josh Brookes and injured Glen Richards at Brands Hatch BSB next weekend – but one rider who won’t be on a superbike either there or at Cadwell is Steve Plater.

After Glen Richards was injured at Knockhill, the team said the Steve Brogan would replace him at Mallory and then Plater would ride in the next two rounds.

But Plater will now concentrate on trying to win the British Supersport title and he told MCN: “As soon as Glen was injured at Knockhill, Neil Tuxworth (Honda team boss) and I talked about me riding the superbike and I was subeqently asked to ride at Brands and Cadwell.

“But the Supersport title fight is quite close and Honda desperately want to win that so it’s better I concentrate on that. To be honest, that suits me. It would have been very difficult at Brands with the triple-header BSB format, as well as a Supersport race.

“As much I’d love to ride the superbike, I’d hate to get to the end of the year having missed out on the British Supersport title.”

But with no Plater in the equation it begs the question, exactly who will Honda field at Brands next weekend?

Neither Tuxworth nor team manager Havier Beltran were available for comment today but a source told MCN that it is unlikely an announcement will be made until early next week.

Tuxworth however told a local Lincolnshire newspaper: “We’ve made the decision that Steve won’t ride in the Superbikes over the next couple of rounds at Brands Hatch and Cadwell .

“We’ve made that decision because the Supersport championship is close and Steve fully agrees with that decision. It’s so he can focus fully on Supersport because we’re in contention to win that championship.

“Even if we brought Valentino Rossi in we wouldn’t win the Superbike championship so we’ve got to make the best of the situation.”

Honda tested yesterday at Cadwell – originally booked for Richards and Brookes.

Brogan and john McGuinness shared one bike, looked after by crew chief Adrian Grost while Karl Muggeridge rode the other looked after by crew chief Chris Pike.

Bad weather kept track time to a minimum (though Plater was on track with his CBR600RR from  10.30 until 18.00)

Former World Supersport champion Muggeridge last raced with the team in the British Supersport class ten years ago. He achieved his maiden WSS race win in 2000, following it up in 2004 on route to claiming his World Supersport crown.