Published in the Daily Mirror - Saturday 23 March 2002
For some, the hero of the first round in Valencia may have been double race winner and current world champion Troy Bayliss, but for me the weekend belonged to British rider Chris Walker. Less than six weeks ago he woke up with a numb face and had lost the ability to blink his left eye.As he drank his morning cuppa he was shocked to feel himself dribbling like a baby and thought he must have slept awkwardly, pressing on a nerve. Actually, he had Bels Palsy. There are many causes – stress, a bang on the head, trauma, even herpes, all of which Chris has suffered over the last 12 months apart from the latter, he jokes. There’s no guaranteed recovery period.
Although Chris originally lost his confidence, he now sports a positive attitude, boosted no doubt by his results in Valencia. Tenth and seventh may sound like also-ran positions but most thought it would be an achievement to finish the race. This man had a mountain to climb and, all credit due, he conquered. This is his first time in World Superbikes as a factory rider, so the Kawasaki team are new faces to him and he has little or no experience of many of the circuits.
Last year he spent the season being spat off a 500-cc Grand Prix bike before being unceremoniously dumped by his team and, just to add insult to injury, literally, his long-time girlfriend left him.
Walker’s riding style and character made him arguably the most popular rider in the UK during his days in the British Superbike Championship.
His duels with Neil Hodgson on and off the track became legendary but also caused masses of controversy and the handbags at dawn ended in the law courts.
With the advantage of hindsight, he now wishes he had followed Hodgson’s footsteps and ridden in the World Superbike Championship last year, but he doesn’t like to dwell on the past. He still can’t close his left eye, which causes a lot of discomfort throughout races and Philip Island is another new circuit to master, but you can be sure he will be giving it his all this weekend Down Under. Competition will be fierce though. Bayliss is on his home track and Hodgson has a point to prove. Chris tells me he will be wearing his lucky pants, white on Saturday and black for race day. Thank goodness it’s not the same pair he used to wear all weekend. As they say over here, the racing should be seriously awesome.