Rizla 'disappointed' with ninth placed Walker.

Rizla Suzuki team manager Simon Buckmaster confessed to being disappointed by Chris Walker's ninth place in the final pre-season BSB test at Snetterton on Sunday.

Stalker, returning to the circuit for the first time in seven years, spent time reacquainting himself with Snetterton's fast straights and turns; before testing various suspension parts and settings in the final afternoon session. Blighted by three red flags, his time on track was limited, so he opted to continue testing parts right until the chequered flag rather than go for an outright lap time.

"Chris got through some useful testing today but I would have liked him to have had time to go for an outright fast lap. He got through some good parts tests but that doesn't mean that ninth on the time sheets is acceptable - we are all a little disappointed," said Buckmaster.

"Given the cold and windy conditions, we decided rather than chasing lap times, we'd work on developing the bike for race conditions," stated Walker, who was nearly two-seconds slower than pacesetter Jonny Rea. "Today's lap times don't show how competitive we really are but I'm not apologising for that, we've made more progress and that's the result we wanted."

Rookie Superbike team-mate Cal Crutchlow had a more eventful day, falling from his GSX-R1000 in the closing stages, leaving him tenth overall.

"I worked through a couple of changes to the link and added a rear thumb brake today, all of which helped to improve my Rizla Suzuki. I was feeling good and the bike was quick, so when I crashed on a closed throttle out of the chicane, it was a surprise," he admitted. "I'm not hurt from the crash and frustrated as the time sheets really don't give a true reflection of our position. It's not the perfect way to finish our test programme but the fact is we are faster and better than we showed today and I'll be out to prove that at Brands Hatch on April 9th."

"Cal was riding well and looked on top of his game right up until his accident," said Buckmaster. "At the point of the crash he was more than three-quarters of a second faster than his previous best lap and contending for the top six. We think it might have been caused by a rapidly cooling track and cold tyre, so he can leave here knowing it wasn't his fault and hungry to show what he can do at the opening round."