The Be Wiser Kawasaki made their debut appearance in the MCE British Superbike Championship this weekend at Donington Park. Riders Danny Buchan and Chris Walker had a mixed weekend, Danny was unfortunate to crash out of both races but Chris secured an eighth and 10th place respectively.

Danny Buchan was running well throughout the weekend and was strong in first practice, finishing in fourth place. In the second session the team were testing some new components and Danny slipped off at Coppice, luckily not too much damage was done and the youngster was fired up for qualifying on Sunday.
 
Danny rode a stunning first session in qualifying and ended up second quickest, easily through to qualifying two. He pushed hard in the second session to finish fifth and come the final session of the Datatag qualifying he ended up finishing sixth, a great position on the grid for his first race with the Be Wiser Kawasaki Team. He got a great start during race one and was fifth at the end of lap one, the safety car was deployed on lap two for three laps. As the car came in, Danny charged through to fourth place, then past Easton moving him up to third on lap five. He was fighting hard with Stuart Easton and Dan Linfoot and dropped down to fifth position. Disaster struck sadly on lap 11 when Buchan crashed out at the Esses from fifth position bringing an abrupt end to his first race.
 
Chris Walker suffered a few minor electrical problems throughout Saturday and the team worked hard during the night to ensure it was solved. Sunday was his first real track time and in free practice three he moved up to 16th, 1.2 seconds off provisional pole. He was 15th in qualifying one and through to the second session where he ended in 16th for race one.
 
Chris got one of his amazing starts and was 12th after the opening lap, the ‘Old but Gold’ rider had to work exceedingly hard for the 20-lap race to push his way up to eighth position at the chequered flag. Chris really did have to work hard and was pushed throughout the majority of the race by ex-Moto GP rider Michael Laverty.
 
In the second race Danny started from ninth place on the grid and Chris from 14th. Chris once again got a flying start and was up to 10th after the opening lap with Danny in 12th position. The Be Wiser Kawasaki pair were both fighting hard setting some consistent lap times. Danny once again was battling up through the field and made it up to seventh at one point but was unfortunate to crash out again on lap 16 of the 20 lap race. Chris was again fought hard for the 20 laps and he secured a 10th place finish, a strong result for the season opener.
 
Danny Buchan –

“I can’t begin to say how disappointed I am not just for myself but all the Be Wiser Kawasaki team. I am sorry I have let them down and I need to go away from here, sit down and re-evaluate everything and come to Brands more focussed and with some realistic goals. We had the pace at the start of the weekend and into qualifying and we just need to slowly chip away. I lost a lot of the second session after my crash and it was vital track time that I needed.
 
The bike really did feel good and I know I can get good results but I need to remind myself it’s a long season and I hope to get on the points board at Brands. I can’t thank my team enough for the work they put in this weekend and the work that I created them, they worked so hard to make things right for me and I’m really grateful for that just sorry I let the side down. I know I have the pace and both were strange crashes but onwards and upwards just sorry to all the team and sponsors for this weekend and thank them all for their continued help and support.”
 
Chris Walker –

“It was a frustrating weekend for us at the start as we had a few niggling problems that troubled us on the first day. We missed out on a fair bit of track time with that but my team worked really hard to get things working for qualifying day. I managed to get some decent laps done on the Sunday and I knew we were beginning to make progress.
 
I am actually pretty happy with the results I gained today after the start of the weekend and I have left here with some solid points in the bag and now a base plan for the next round at Brands Hatch. I would like to say a huge thank you to my team on my side of the garage for getting things right and hope now we can start to move things forward for the rest of the season.”
 
Tommy Hill – Team Manager -

"Well that was the first ever race for the Be Wiser Kawasaki team at Donington and we learnt a lot and will continue to make progress throughout the season.
 
Chris (Walker) had a very consistent weekend and was making some good progress in both races chasing the leading pack. He worked hard throughout both races and has come away with some solid results for the team. He has certainly built his confidence this weekend and has adapted to working with a new team well and I’m sure that will only get better as the season goes on.
 
I am really pleased with Danny (Buchan) the crashes do not represent the effort his has put in throughout the weekend and the pace that he was showing at times. He really did work hard and it was unfortunate to have the crashes he did, but he is still only very young and it is a long season. We can build on this and settle him down at the remaining races but he is more than capable of some strong results.”

Chris Walker

Danny Buchan