A typical Stalker start saw the Fuchs Kawasaki rider jump up from tenth on the grid to seventh at the first turn, before getting his head down and overhauling Ruben Xaus for sixth place three laps in. After battling with Xaus, Frankie Chili and Bostrom for the duration of the race, Walker eventually crossed the line in sixth place.

'I felt really nervous this morning, probably because I'm still not feeling 100% due to a bout of flu,' said Walker. 'It was difficult to keep up the pace in the race, but then I started to catch Bostrom and got a bit excited - not to mention motivated! Once Ben started sliding it affected his pace and, while I think I had the rear spinning up before him, my bike didn't seem to be getting any worse and I was able to put in a pass on the last lap. What a great result!'

Walker backed up his fine first race result with eighth position in the second race, after battling with Chili and wild card rider Michael Rutter. Although disappointed not to finish higher up the order, the result means Walker now moves within five points of James Toseland, who holds seventh in the World Championship standings.

'I made a couple of mistakes and lost the tow from the group of riders in front,' explained the 30-year-old Fuchs Kawasaki rider. 'After that I was able to run the same times as Xaus and Chili, but couldn't do anything about catching them. Overall, I'm pleased with today's results but, after Silverstone, I really wanted to get on the podium here. Unfortunately, we were losing out too much to the twins on the back part of the circuit, so it just wasn't going to be. But I did manage to beat all the wild card riders, and finished second Briton after Neil, so I'm happy enough.'

Hitoyasu Izutsu made a strong comeback to the World Superbike Championship, finishing 13th in race one despite not having raced for over three months after his Sugo crash. The 31-year-old former Japanese Superbike Champion rode on the limit throughout the race, but struggled with race fitness and a lack of track time. In the second race Izutsu finished just out of the points, eventually crossing the line in 17th place, after suffering from rear end chatter on the factory Kawasaki.

'We had a few problems with the bike this weekend, and of course my wrist is still not fully race fit,' said Izutsu. 'But the wrist gets stronger every time I ride the bike and, despite the problems today, I've enjoyed my first two races after my enforced layoff. We've now got almost four weeks off, which will give me more time to work on building strength in my wrist.'