BSB and TT legend Plater suffers fractured vertebrae in enduro off

Former British champion and multiple International road race winner Steve Plater is recovering from a fractured C1 vertebrae in his neck suffered in an off-road accident in the Welsh mountains.

The 47-year-old sustained the injury in a fall from his enduro bike when he was hit from behind from another rider with the front wheel of the bike hitting him directly at the back of the head.

Haydn Cobb_1

27 Jan 2020

Former British champion and multiple International road race winner Steve Plater is recovering from a fractured C1 vertebrae in his neck suffered in an off-road accident in the Welsh mountains.

The 47-year-old sustained the injury in a fall from his enduro bike when he was hit from behind from another rider with the front wheel of the bike hitting him directly at the back of the head.

After a full medical assessment and scans at Aberystwyth Hospital the C1 fracture was diagnosed. Plater also avoided any further damage to the C6 vertebrae that he damaged in a crash at the 2010 North West 200.

Since being released from hospital in Wales, Plater has gone for follow-up checks in hospital in Manchester to monitor his condition and recovery.

In a statement released on Plater’s social media channels, he has expressed his "thanks to Arai Europe [and] Acerbis UK for their excellent protection and all of the staff at Aberystwyth Hospital."

The picture accompanying the tweet shows Plater riding a KTM EXC enduro bike but it is not known if it was the motorcycle he was riding at the time of the accident.

Since retiring from short circuit and road racing, the 2009 British Supersport champion moved into endurance racing and previously acted as team manager for Prime Factors Racing. More recently Plater has frequently been a television commentator and presenter at the North West 200, the Isle of Man TT and other major road racing meetings.