The Be Wiser Kawasaki team had a varied weekend at round three of the MCE British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park. Chris Walker was again super consistent throughout the weekend scoring some solid Championship points, with an 11th in race one and ninth in race two. Danny Buchan was unfortunate to crash out of race one and was 17th in the second race.
Chris dug deep and worked hard all weekend to find a good set up on the Be Wiser Kawasaki, having missed the test last week the team were playing catch up on Saturday with both riders to find a suitable set up for the demanding track.
During practice both rider made huge improvements on their time and performance, the pair were keen to get out for the Datatag Superpole on Sunday. Chris and Danny both made it through to qualifying two and Chris just missed out on the last session, seeing him start from 11th on the grid for race one. Danny got through to the final session and started from ninth place.
Chris got a solid start and was 10th after the opening lap; Danny got caught up in the first lap melee and was pushed wide onto the grass on the opening lap. Re-grouping he had dropped some places and was pushing hard to make amends but crashed out at the fast Druids corner, uninjured. Chris battled hard again and was racing a lonely race to finish in 11th.
Danny dropped six places on the grid for race two and started from 15th place, with Chris starting in 12th. Chris moved through to 11th after lap one, he worked hard to get through to a top ten finishing position and finished the 18-lap race in ninth. Danny was struggling a little throughout the race and dropped backwards slightly through the pack but brought the Be Wiser Kawasaki home in 17th place.
Chris Walker - "I am fairly pleased with the weekend here at Oulton Park we still have a lot of changes to make and plenty of promise to move forwards. We were a little on the back foot here as most of the teams tested the week before but we are doing the two day test at Snetterton in a couple of weeks.
The first race was pretty good but I was riding around on my own for most of it, we have made some good changes and the team are working really hard all the time to make strong improvements in each session. The second race was going well but about five laps in I had a malfunction with my electrics so the bike was doing things it wasn't meant to be doing. I managed to re-group and ride around the problems but that at that point I'd lost positions and they had pulled too much of a gap for me to be able to do anything about it."
Danny Buchan - "It was another really tough and frustrating weekend, everything was going so well in practice and qualifying and I felt really happy on the Be Wiser Kawasaki. It was a bit of carnage on the first lap of the race and I got pushed onto the grass, I lost my focus and sadly crashed out a couple of corners later.
I struggled a little in the second race; I just wanted to bring the bike home in one piece. I am looking forward to testing at Snetterton and hopefully coming back stronger there. I want to get some consistent top ten results at the remaining rounds and I am just sorry to the team for the crash and want to give them a good result too."
Tommy Hill - Team Manager - "We had a really good start to the weekend and we were playing catch up a little as many of the teams had tested here the week before. Both Chris and Danny were riding really well and were making good progress in every session.
There are always going to be three or four riders that are in a different league at each track but if we can fight for the middle to sharp end then it is a step in the right direction. We were doing that this weekend and both riders had good qualifying sessions and were keen for a strong race.
It is unfortunate for Danny, he is trying really hard to get a good result, I have been there myself where you really want to do well. He is so eager and keen but it is important that we get him settled this year and build his confidence and help push him forward next season. We know he is fast he just needs to string it all together and it will be fine, this year is a learning year for him and he is one of the youngest riders out there in a very tough Championship.
Chris as always just gets on with things, works really hard and digs deep to get some concrete results. He is constantly making developments to his bike that suit him and this is making a big difference on his times. Once again he brought the Be Wiser Kawasaki home in two good points scoring positions."
