Chris Walker was disappointed to suffer a pair of retirements at his home Donington Park round as Paul Bird Motorsport succumbed to their first mechanical failure since 2005.

Walker, embarking on his second weekend with the Vent-Axia VK-sponsored team, had been strong thorough practice and qualifying before eventually claiming 13th position on the grid.

Climbing up into the top ten in the early stages, Walker's race would last no longer than five laps when he was forced to retire with a mechanical problem.

Walker enjoyed an even better start to the second race as rain lashed Donington Park, climbing to fourth by the first corner before getting out of shape on the run up to McLeans. Although he kept his bike upright over the sodden grass, Walker would drop down the order before his clutch eventually went.

Ending a disappointing weekend for 'The Stalker', Walker was frustrated, but at the same time pleased to be showing decent pace on a Superbike once again.

"I was desperate to make it into Superpole coming into this weekend and I ended up qualifying around about where I wanted to be and in front of Greg which was a bonus. I had two strong race starts and was moving along well but in the first race we had a technical problem and in the second race the clutch went.

“To make matters worse my mechanic also lost the top of his finger warming up for race one so I was one man down for race two. What can I say, it just wasn't meant to be on Stalker's side of the garage this weekend. However I'm still chuffed be part of this team and riding a Superbike and can only look forward to the next race."

Team boss Paul Bird was equally sad for Walker, not least because superb reliability has been a standout feature for the team over the years.

“I'm obviously really disappointed for Chris to have not been able to complete a race. This is the first mechanical breakdown the team has had since 2005. All year we have proved that we have reliable bikes finishing in the points in all races but one, but this weekend was not meant to be for Chris so we know that his luck can only get better for the next race."