World Supersport: Chris Walker on the pace despite two crashes

Chris Walker shrugged off two big crashes during the three day test in Qatar last week and is ready and waiting for the opening round of the World Supersport championship.

Walker was undeterred by the crashes, which left him battered and bruised with skin missing off his buttocks after high siding his Gil Motorsport Kawasaki ZX-6R.

Speaking to MCN, Chris Walker said: “I was testing a different shock which had a lot more rebound because we were struggling with chatter.

“As I went in to the corner the rear just lifted off a bit and came round on me.

“Fortunately apart from getting a foot rest up my arse it wasn’t too big a crash to be honest, apart from the bike stayed upright and went head on in to a barrier.

“In the last hour of the second day I was out on track and my team-mate (Katsuaki) Fujiwara came past me.

“I spent a couple of laps following him, went 0.7secs quicker and then thought to myself ‘hang on Stalker you’ve been doing this all wrong!’

“I’ve realised that the set-up I’ve got isn’t letting me do all the things he’s doing on the bike and it’s not like he’s on a Yamaha or a Honda, he’s on the same bike as me.

“After that we made some changes and I was able to go out on my own and do the same lap times.

“I’m starting to use some different lines, at some places I’m using less track and other places more. It shouldn’t be that different to a Superbike, but it is.

“When you go testing nobody lets you follow them, but we’re in to the racing now so I’m really excited as they can’t pull over.”