Walker was following James Toseland during morning warm-up when the HM Plant Ducati rider rode over a rock, thrown onto the circuit as a result of other riders dragging their knees through the gravel on the inside of the turn. Ejected from rear tyre of Toseland's bike, the rock penetrated Walker's left boot and left the Fuchs Kawasaki rider with a nasty open wound on his foot.

With the wound packed and dressed, Walker started the first race strongly, before being forced to retire when the rear wheel on his Fuchs Kawasaki ZX-7RR developed a fault.

'I was gutted,' said Walker. 'The foot wasn't bothering me as much as I'd feared it would, and I reckon I'd have been on for a top six finish if I hadn't had to stop.'

A flying start from the third row of the grid saw Walker up with the leading group of riders in race two. After a race long battle with, first Ben Bostrom, and then Noriyuki Haga, the 30-year-old British rider eventually crossed the line in seventh place to, once again, finish as the top four-cylinder rider.

'We've not had the best of weekends, but race two definitely went some way to making up for the problems we've had,' said Walker. 'My foot is really sore, but I still managed to lap half a second quicker today than I managed during qualifying, so a big thank you to the team who, as always, have worked exceptionally hard this weekend. At one point during the race, I thought I might have been able to hold off Haga and Bostrom for fifth, but they were making up so much ground on me out of the hairpin and onto the back straight, it was inevitable that they'd squeeze through eventually.'

With his injured wrist causing him problems during this morning's warm-up session, Hitoyasu Izutsu opted to sit out today's two Superbike races. The former Japanese Superbike Champion is hopeful that the three week gap before the final round of the season at Imola will allow his injury to heal enough to allow him to race.

'Assen was just too soon after Oschersleben and my wrist hasn't had any time to recover properly,' said a disappointed Izutsu. 'It was very painful during this morning's session, and I was pretty certain that it wouldn't have been strong enough for me to have ridden competitively this afternoon. I am determined to ride in the last two races of the year and I will be undergoing physiotherapy between now and then, to ensure that the wrist is strong enough for me to race.'