Wiser switch for Ollerton star Walker

Ollerton’s MCE British Superbike rider Chris Walker has announced that he will be riding for the Be Wiser Kawasaki Team for the 2015 MCE British Superbike Championship season.

He is set to start his 13th season in the series and will be joined by 2014 National Superstock Champion rider Danny Bucan to be the stars of the team that will be supported by Kawasaki Racing to compete in the series on the Kawasaki ZX-10R.

Walker has ridden on Kawasakis for the majority of his career and 2015 will see him move from the Lloyds BritishGB Moto Kawasaki Team to his new team.

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The 2013 Showdown contender finished sixth a few weeks ago at the end of the best season of his British Superbike Championship career, which saw him ride consistently with three podiums.

Walker, is the oldest rider on the grid and veteran of over 270 BSB races.

So he will no doubt bring a host of knowledge and information to the team that will help them progress in their debut season in the MCE British Superbike series. The team is being managed by former British Superbike Champion, Tommy Hill.

Wallker said: “I’m really excited to be back out on the grid in 2015 and to be part of this new project with the Be Wiser Kawasaki team.

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Speaking to MCE British Superbikes, he added: “I was happy after making the Showdown last season and didn’t feel like looking at other teams, but in the background I have known team owner Alan Greig for a long while because we both have an association with Dickies.

“I had one eye on it and, as the Be Wiser Kawasaki team gathered momentum behind the scenes, combined with the announcement of Tommy joining and potentially being team-mates with Danny, this made this quite a mouth-watering prospect.

“Because of it being a new team, where perhaps I can play a similar role to how I did with GBmoto, by helping with the development with my experience of the settings and knowledge of the Kawasaki, this made it exciting.

“Everything with this team is brand new, but both myself and Danny are taking some of our crew with us which is great.

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“I am chuffed to bits to be a part of this team and I am pleased that I have been able to return next season after doing a good enough job in 2014 to warrant this opportunity.

“I believe the team can be as competitive as I was last season with GBmoto without a doubt. I know we have a good level of machinery, and with Tommy’s involvement and feedback it should be fantastic.

“I also think Danny is one of our most exciting up-and-coming riders in this country and I am looking forward to seeing him get his teeth into it as I think he will be a force to be reckoned with. It is a bit like all those years ago when Niall Mackenzie and Terry Rymer helped me and took me under their wing; it was amazing at the time.

“For me to be able to work with Danny - with me old enough to be his dad - means we can push each other week in and week out and have a lot of fun and we all want results.”

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Danny Buchan (21) has also had a long relationship with Kawasaki and this year took his first championship title for them, winning the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship with 11 podiums including eight wins.

Buchan has had many successes in his short road-racing career and is now ready to move back into the British Superbike Championship to undertake this new challenge.

Nicknamed ‘The Stalker’, Walker started his career as a local motocross rider at the age of 13, moving to road racing in 1994.

By the end of that year and into 1996 he rose through the ranks with ease and had ridden in Motorbike Grand Prix and scored points. He then had a spell in the British Superbike Championship between 1997 and 2000

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Between 2001 and 2006 Walker went into the 500cc World Championship and World Superbikes with his best result, his maiden Superbike World Championship race win in 2006 at Assen, Netherlands.

He moved back to British Superbikes in 2007 where he is firmly established

Walker’s first outing of the season is some time off with plenty of testing to be done.

He returns to Donington Park for the first round of the 2015 MCE British Superbike Championship season on 4th, 5th and 6th April 2015.