Aruba.it Ducati’s Chaz Davies certainly made up for his DNF in the opening World Superbike race at Donington Park, after making it on to the third step of the podium in race two.
The Welshman had a strong pace in the final race and even though he was not able to catch the duelling Kawasaki’s of Tom Sykes and Jonathan Rea he was consistent and crossed the finishing line in a dominant third.
It is in stark contrast to his first race, where he crashed whilst leading at the front. But he was unhurt and managed to remount only to fall into the gravel again, putting an end to his rostrum hopes. With the zero points haul in the opening race and Sykes’ double victory it means that Davies drops to third in the overall standings.
“They have got the edge on us around here and they seem to be able to hold and stay on the throttle and turn on the throttle. They can stop just as good and they can accelerate, so there is a lot of places where we are not too far different,” said Davies at the track.
“But then there are a couple of other places where they seem to be able to turn a lot easier on the throttle. Mid corner or breaking areas, and rolling through the middle of the corner is not too much difference but it is just that staying on the throttle which is kind of a trait they always had which helps them around here - and all through that first part of the track and up past the old hairpin as well. It’s a bit of a salvage today, being on the podium is good but it’s a frustrating weekend I suppose.
“Here it was just a sequence of events, this has never been a great track for me since being on the Ducati in general, but it has been pretty clear that they [Sykes and Rea] have a strong package here. It is not that we are weak here it is that they are specially strong. The nature of the track really caters to their package.
“When you miss half of the practice time you are given on one given weekend it is tough to catch up. We missed all of Friday afternoon and went out and had an electrical problem, came in and then went out and then did one lap and set on fire. You get two hours practice and you miss one of them and you pay for it later in the weekend.
“So yesterday in the race I felt I was finding my feet and I was leading the race but I was not 100 percent comfortable, the bike was different with a full tank of fuel , it was a mess really. Today was a bit better base setting but the same time we were still missing a little bit on those two [Sykes and Rea], but saying that we were closer than we were this time last year here and we will keep on working.
“You have to win races to win the championship and I am not going to win the championship by following it home in fourth - it is not going to happen, I might as well go for it. I feel like we are not there yet at every circuit so I have to win when I can win and it is all about wins for me. I pushed as hard as I could today and finished third and if I can get to the front like I did yesterday I will push as hard as I can possibly push and see what happens.”
