Chaz davies finishes 16th in first motogp
22/07/07
News
By David Miller
Britain's Chaz Davies managed an outstanding 16th place in his first ever MotoGP race at Laguna Seca - on a bike he has never seen, on a track he has never raced on and with some parts that fell to pieces.
The Welsh youngster, who used to reguarly beat today's winner Casey Stoner when the raced together in the UK, was drafted into the Pramac D'Antin Ducati team on Friday afternoon after regular rider Alex Hoffman was injured in a crash at the Corkscrew involving Sylvain Guintoli.
Team boss Luis D'Antin was left scratching his head about what to do when International Race Team Association (IRTA) supremo Mike Trimby suggested he try Davies, who was there to race in his regular AMA Supersport class.
Davies was asked an hour before the second free practice session was scheduled to get under way and spent much of the time getting used to the power delivery and handing of Desmoseidici.
After successful qualifying and free practices, he lined up on the start and managed to get away decently, pushing up to 13th from his 20th placed grid slot. He briefly led reigning world champion Nicky Hayden but had to pull in after 18 laps as his rear sprocket had lost a good number of its teeth.
