Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Chris Walker has not had the best of MCE British Superbike weekends at Oulton Park after technical problems hampered any hopes of the veteran racer making his way back in to the Showdown places, and Walker has labelled his race weekend as ‘tough’.

The rider failed to make it into the top five in all three outings, and has only finished three out of the last seven races, due to bike problems and crashes.

“It has been a tough weekend for me, and to get a technical in race two which put me on the back of the grid and a ninth and a twelfth is not what I came here for, but the team is a happy place,” said Walker, speaking to bikesportnews.com.

There were also changes to his team, with Barry Burrell replacing Danny Buchan for the foreseeable future, and Walker says the Northerner is fitting in well with the team. The Nottinghamshire rider is now hoping for a bit of luck so he can crawl his way back into Showdown contention.

“Burrell replacing Buchan is a bit different. He has had a baptism of fire as he hasn’t done many racing laps with BSB speeds but he has settled really well in the team. Fingers crossed we get a bit of lady luck on our side, I have only finished three races out of the last seven and I haven’t really done a great deal wrong.

“But it is a bitter pill to swallow from sixth in the championship down nearly to tenth so it makes it a long last half of the season. The Showdown is not impossible there is still 100 points up for grabs, and never say never.

“Barry will be with us in Cadwell and I believe for the rest of the season as he has settled in well. Everyone hoped he would be in the points but he had a technical problem in the final race, but it is nice to have him in the team.”