DANNY Buchan was left to carry the Be Wiser Kawasaki flag for the team at round five of the MCE British Superbike Championship held at Knockhill.

Chris Walker crashed out heavily on Friday and was ruled out for the rest of the weekend and it was left to Buchan, from Burnham on Crouch, to represent them.

The team made some major steps forward with the bike set up which allowed the rider to continually improve during qualifying.

This gave Buchan a much-needed confidence boost and he finally finished Q3 in eighth place, setting a respectable time just 0.476 seconds slower than pole sitter and series leader Shane Byrne.

In race one, Buchan got a good start and was seventh after the opening lap.

The safety car was then deployed for four laps to clear debris off the circuit and Buchan was pushing for position as soon as the race resumed.

By lap ten he had moved up to sixth place but was unable to make an impression on the leaders.

He rode a great race to finish the 30 laps in a creditable sixth position, setting the third fastest lap which put him on the front row of the grid for race two.

He did not make the best start for Sunday’s race, squandering his first row advantage, and dropped back to seventh after lap two.

He was pushing hard but was unable to catch the riders in front and when the rain started on lap 18 the race was red flagged.

At the re-start Danny quickly got off the line and fought hard for the remainder of the race to finish in a solid eighth place.

Buchan said: “I’m really pleased with the weekend at Knockhill and two solid top ten position and it was what we really needed.

“I felt very comfortable this weekend and the Be Wiser team once again worked really hard to help me improve each time I went out on the bike.

“I felt really strong in both races and back to my old self and these two results are great for the confidence. I know my pace was really consistent in both races which also was a good motivator for me.

“I can’t thank the team enough for all their help and input they have put into me I really appreciate it and want to wish my team-mate Chris a speedy recovery.”