Injured Walker aiming to make amends

GBmoto Kawasaki's Chris Walker is steeling himself to ride through the pain barrier at Silverstone as he attempts to make up for a disappointing MCE British Superbike Showdown opener at Assen.

The veteran racer left the Dutch venue empty-handed after a tyre gamble backfired in race one before he was taken out in the second race.

Showdown 'Title Fighter' Walker is struggling with a back injury but hopes some pain-killing injections will enable him to make amends at the penultimate round of the championship.

"We certainly made it hard work for ourselves after Assen and I didn't make the impact on the championship standings that I wanted. Although I injured my wrist in warm-up at Assen, that's completely fine now but I'm actually struggling with the base of back, which is a legacy of being taken out in race two," he said.

"I'm having some treatment on it but luckily it's just bruising and muscle damage and nothing is broken so it's nothing some strong pain killers won't solve.

"I've been looking forward to Silverstone all year as we don't get to ride there very often, so I am a little disappointed to be suffering slightly with my back," Walker added.

"That won't stop us though and the bikes been working fantastically the last few rounds so we'll be pushing for some big results and taking the next four races as they come to try and finish as high up the championship table as possible."

Walker is sixth in the Showdown standings, 19 points behind Quattro Plant Kawasaki's Dan Linfoot.