Chris Walker (GIL Kawasaki) rode his Ninja ZX-6R to 14th place at Phillip Island this weekend, in a delayed 21-lap race. Starting from the fourth row, Walker was involved in several midfield battles during the race, but made up two places on his qualifying position at the end of 21 laps.
His team-mate Fujiwara was relegated from 15th on the grid to 21st place on lap one and he was forced out altogether on lap three, despite having high hopes for raceday after some late set-up changes.
Chris Walker
“Hard work for not a lot of reward but it was good to get a finish and points. We struggled with the rear bouncing around in the corners in places and unfortunately it was at its worst in the corners just where you could do some overtaking. So everything I had gained elsewhere I then lost, especially going over Lukey Heights. The back tyre was bouncing a bit, but it wasn’t chatter. The lap times weren’t so bad towards the end and that was a good sign. With a test in ten days or so we can learn more and the boys in the pitbox did really well for us.”
Katsuaki Fujiwara
“We had an engine problem so it turned out to be a hard raceday, as well as a tough weekend of qualifying. The team has worked very well and this morning, in warm-up, we found some good settings. But when you have to stop, there is nothing more you can do. We learned a lot this weekend, and we want to continue working in a good direction at the test in Valencia.”
