2002 World SuperBike Championship - Round 11 - Oschersleben - Qualifying 1

Chris Walker stormed back from the summer break, to take his Fuchs Kawasaki ZX-7RR to an impressive sixth position during the opening day of qualifying for round eleven of the World Superbike Championship at Oschersleben, Germany.

On his first visit to the 3.667Km circuit, Walker quickly got the Fuchs Kawasaki dialled in, to once again finish as the highest qualifying four-cylinder machine; ahead of many of the favoured twins around the technical German track.

'I struggled to get into it a bit this morning, but I think everyone was feeling a bit rusty after the four-week layoff,' said Walker. 'It was only halfway through this afternoon's qualifying session that everything started to fall into place. I set my fastest time of the day when I managed to hook in behind Colin Edwards. I think he was actually on a warm-up lap, so big respect is due to him for that!'

'It's the usual story out there. We've got two legends in Colin and Troy up front and everyone else has to ride out of their skin just to keep up. But it's my first time at this circuit, so I'm confident that there will be a few places where I'll find some more time tomorrow. We've got a couple of race tyres to choose from, so I'll also have to spend a bit of time finding out which one works best,' continued Walker.

A determined performance from Hitoyasu Izutsu saw the former Japanese Superbike Champion secure seventeenth position aboard the Fuchs Kawasaki ZX-7RR this afternoon. Although still suffering the effects of a badly broken wrist, sustained at his home round in Sugo, the 31-year-old Japanese star is happy to be back on the bike and racing in World Superbikes once again.

With minor changes made to the bike during the interval, Izutsu set his fastest lap of the day on a race tyre, after encountering a problem with the rear qualifier on his flying lap.

'I hoped to be a bit higher up the grid today, but we had a few minor problems,' said Izutsu. 'We’ve made some changes to the front and rear suspension today, and I'm confident that I'll be able to improve on my qualifying position tomorrow.'

Eric Bostrom, riding the Kawasaki ZX-7RR, put in a brave performance to secure fourteenth place on the provisional grid, despite riding with injuries sustained in a boating accident seven days ago. Like Walker, this was Bostrom's first ride at the Oschersleben circuit, which makes today's performance all the more impressive.

'Right now my body is so sore from the boat crash and I almost can’t ride the bike,' explained the American, who finished a close second in this year's AMA Superbike Championship just two weeks ago. 'I had some injections from our team physio and my chest is definitely better, but the problem now is my back, which feels like I have a knife stuck in it.'

'I actually really like the track, there are a couple of places where you seem to spend too much time on the side of the tyre, but I’m getting used to that. We have some improvements to make to the bike but, if I was fit, I could ride it how it is, so I just hope that my body improves before tomorrow,' added the 26-year-old Californian.