BSB: Walker takes debut sidecar podium

Chris ‘Stalker’ Walker made a welcome return to a British Championship podium in today, taking an impressive second place in today’s opening Hyundai Heavy Industries British Sidecar race alongside passenger Ashley Hawes.

The four-time British Champion has wasted no time in adapting to three-wheels as he switched to the sidecar series, with today’s podium coming in just his third round with the Santander Salt Kawasaki squad.

With the dominant pairings of Tim Reeves and Patrick Farrance and the Birchall brothers away on World Championship duty, Walker found himself in a strong position when early race leaders Ricky Stevens and Ryan Charlwood were caught up in an incident with eventual winners Ben Holland and Lee Watson. Settling in to second, he kept his head down to cross the line 25 seconds behind the winners.

“It’s weird, Knockhill has been good and bad for me over the years. It’s either podium or A&E,” he said. “Last year it was A&E, the year before was podium so I was due one but being in sidecars now it was never a foregone conclusion. It was pretty hectic in the race, we just managed to do a good job yesterday to qualify and capitalised on it. There are a couple of the big hitters not here which made it a bit easier but it’s fantastic.