Aruba Ducati’s Chaz Davies declared today’s WorldSBK third place as ‘salvage’ after having to come through the pack from 15th – but despite being forced to take to the grass at the end of lap one, the Welshman was only 12 seconds in arrears at the chequered flag.
Davies got tangled up in the Van Der Mark/Mercado/Haslam interface at the exit of Goddards and was left with nowhere to do but on to the turf but a hard charge with some good passes saw him pinch the final podium spot from Van Der Mark on the penultimate lap.
“Salvage. After everything, a bit of a mess of a race, got a shit start and caught up in every accident going,” said Davies, speaking at the track.
"I was happy this weekend, although in the races the ball didn't bounce our way, because this was the first time I actually felt that we might actually be able to do something about the green bikes around here.
“The first 60 seconds of this lap I would consider a weakness the last 30 seconds are not too bad for us, so we are actually really, really close and for that I am really happy, that is the biggest thing to take away from here.
"I just kept my head down and kept charging, and actually Alex was quite tricky to pass. It was interesting and would have been a lot better if it wasn't the two green bikes that managed to get away, but that is the consequence of a bad start. The thing I am happy about is that we are there, thereabouts on the pace."
Davies will travel to Misano next week for a test and should have a couple of upgrades to evaluate.
"I will be using the test to try and go faster than the two green bikes, we might have one or two minor components to test.”
