25 Years of World Superbike: Walker and Whitham
The UK has often been thought of as the home of motorsport, and that is certainly the case when it comes to the Superbike World Championship. The many famous names who have written memorable chapters in WSBK history clearly include James Whitham and Chris Walker, who were inducted into the SBK Hall of Fame at Silverstone just a few minutes before race 1.
James Whitham, born in Huddersfield in 1966, is widely recognized as being one of the most versatile riders in the sport throughout the 1990s. He rode in the TT, British Superbike and the World Championship, but is above all famous for a long and successful career in World Superbike and Supersport. In the top class, where he mainly raced for Moto Cinelli Ducati and the works Suzuki team, he has 92 starts to his name, with 8 podiums and 1 win, which came at Sentul in 1994 on a private Ducati 916.
After his SBK experience, Whitham stepped down to Supersport, where he scored 4 wins and 12 podiums in 34 races with Yamaha Belgarda, before being forced to retire due to a glaucoma. "Jamie" then became one of the commentators for British Eurosport, where his experience and technical know-how is an added value for the International commentary team.
Unlike Whitham, Chris Walker is one rider who is still going strong and at the age of 40 he actually won a British Superbike race in May at Oulton Park with the Pr1mo Bournemouth Kawasaki team. Three-times BSB runner-up, "The Stalker" was a constant figure in World Superbike from 2002 to 2008 (with the sole exception of 2007 when he returned to BSB), racing with Ducati GSE, Foggy Petronas and Kawasaki. And it was with the PSG-1 entered ‘Green Machine' that Walker scored his first and only win in WSBK at Assen in 2006, the last one for the Akashi manufacturer until Tom Sykes put the bike on the top slot last year at the Nurburgring.
Walker raced a total of 148 times in WSBK (plus 8 in Supersport), finishing on the podium 12 times. On returning home in 2009, he diversified activities away from the track, first as ambassador and sales manager for Norton Motorcycles, and then as owner of the Chris Walker Race School, whose most recent ‘discovery' is Lee Jackson, a youngster who took third place at Silverstone on Sunday in the Superstock 600 category.
