Exit stage left Chris Walker!!!

[asha]

Its appears that Chris Walker is 100% fit for the Germany GP.
But he wont ride because he doesn't have a ride.

Loen H. is getting his 4 cylinder while, loen's V-twin is going to someone else (a certain australian, was pulled out of Maths class in Brisbane to fly to germany to take part).

Walker said he is going to take the next few days to consider his position. Seeing as though his 2-year contract is out the window.
He may be back on a 4-stroke (deals in the works)

Understandably he is a bit ticked off with the team! Thinking that he had one year to learn, and one to race but...
Who said you have to keep your word in motor racing?

[asha]

the australian is Brendan Clarke!
I think most australian's racers would have at least heard of him he is "leading the 250cc Production and running a close second in the 600cc Supersport classes" here in Aust. Good luck to him on the weekend!

But what about Walker?
I have to say personally, I don't think he has been given a fair go.

That said he did crash a lot, he was British Superbike Champ.(which is impressive) not World Superbike Champ.
That would be like asking Eric Bostrom to race GP bikes in 9 rounds (you'd think that Ben would have a better chance).

I think it just reinstates the fact that GP bike are the hardest to ride. I think the future we will see a lot more riders comming from the 250cc class rather then SBK (let alone national SBK).

[elephino]

Well done and good luck to Brendan.

I do like Chris though and it is a shame that he wasn't able to keep his ride. He didn't seem to be going too slowly as he was generally keeping up with Leon but I guess the crashes may have been too much.

[gomick]

for the record, chris walker was runner up in the british superbikes for 4 years running (97-00) - so he was definitely worthy of a decent ride in either wsb or moto gp, pity of his early season injuries ......

anyway, brendan clarke , what a story.....saw brendan at winton round ( rnd 2) of oz superbikes, won both 250 proddy races, came 1st and 2nd/3rd in the 600 supersport races, man what an exciting talent for a 17/18 year old , along with his oz aprilia challenge chhampionship from the f xtreme series, best of luck to berndan, hope he has a good dice with anthony west , best of luck also to young leon haslam who gets his 1st ride on the v4....

more jive later

[asha]

Shell Advance Honda Team Owner Jeff Hardwick said about walker:

"I have nothing against him whatsoever. Chris Walker was released from this team because I was worried about his health and his safety. The simple fact is that his style wasn't suited to a 2 stroke machine and he's had some big crashes because of that"

"I still believe Chris Walker is an outstanding rider. In my opinion he is one of the best Superbike riders in the world and I certainly don't agree with people like Carl Fogarty who have been criticising his ability, I just think his style wasn't suited to the settings we wanted for this bike. In fact, I certainly wouldn't rule him out of a return to the team in the future should we decide to embark on a 4 stroke project, because I really feel he has plenty to offer."
(motogp.com)

I'm sure that Chris is so greatful that the team cared about him so much that they gave him the boot.

[Alan Jones]

Asha, at least they didn't totally bag him to all and sundry on the way out.

[f1parts]

Walker's style will be well suited to the new 4-stroke GP bikes and there are going to be some awesome 4-stroke GP machines running round. IMHO the manufacturers will go for this one as they see the relevance of this class to the marketing of their 4-stroke machines. Trouble is I think it will really hurt WSB.

[elephino]

It's good to hear what the team has been saying as it agrees with what many have been saying about Chris.

Hopefully the team will be able to get 4-strokes and have 3 riders.

[pink69]

Foggy's a big fan of Chris Walker. With him entering his own SBK team next year into the WSBK , Walker would be perfect for a ride as he has shown he can mix it with the best and if he shows as good as Hodgson then he would be right up there with edwards and bayliss. Plus being British would give us more chance of having another British WSBK champ.

[asha]

pink69
Re: Foggy's opinion of Chris Walker

The motogp article has Jeff Hardwick saying that he didn't agree with Fogarty.

"he is one of the best Superbike riders in the world and I certainly don't agree with people like Carl Fogarty who have been criticising his ability, I just think his style wasn't suited"- -Hardwick

I would have thought that someone close to Walker (like Hardwick) would be in a good position to know what Foggy's opinion of his rider was.

Do you have any reason to think that this is untrue?
This is the first time that i've heard of carl's opinion of Walker.
Am suprised if it's wrong?

[pink69]

i read somewhere that Foggy admired Walker for riding at the British GP despite his injuries , and that he felt it was unfair for him to be sacked by the Shell advanced team and still keep his head up.