Aruba Ducati’s Chaz Davies has slammed the overtake attempt from Marco Melandri in yesterday’s final Jerez WorldSBK race as a ‘dickhead’ move.
Davies had finally found some pace with the Panigale V4R and was in the scrap for a podium shot but Melandri tried to go underneath the big Welshman at a place where passes, says Davies, are never attempted and it it capped off a tough weekend.
“I was bang on line. I watched the video, watched my line, watched Toprak’s line - we are all on the same bit of tarmac pretty much,” Davies told bikesportnews.com.
“There is a good chance that the Yamaha maybe is a little bit sharper at that point in the track – I am making excuses for him (Marco) here and I shouldn’t be – but there is a good chance that maybe he has a little bit more turning at that point.
But still he knows better, or should know better, than anybody here because he has more experience, that at one point you come back to the kerb at the apex of that corner, which is very late.
“When you come back to the kerb that is the first I knew he was there. I just got to the kerb and he just hit me on the inside. I have never seen anybody try to pass there - on a GP bike or a Superbike.
“It just does not happen and it is ridiculous to even try. It is the move I would expect of a 20-year-old, not a 37-year-old world champion. The shit thing about it is that Marco being Marco, he will not apologise, and it will be my fault, for whatever reason. That is just Marco.”
Davies was reminded of another hard Marco move in Buriram. “Also in Buriram, although I was not happy with the move because it was very late, an another classic Marco, it was a corner entry and you give the opportunity for the other rider to pick up, at that point.
“It is a normal, a little bit over the top, corner entry pass. This was just a stupid idea from him. If he passed me on the entry to that corner, like I did to him, and took us both wide and touched me, took us both wide, or even crashed of course I wouldn’t be happy but he would have tried to pass me in a normal place. But where he has tried to pass he should know it is never going to work.”
Davies did not know at that point that Melandri would get a sanction of starting six places behind his qualifying spot in the Misano race, but he felt something needed to be done.
I think he deserves a penalty for sure. He destroyed not only my race but also his race. I took a big impact on my hip and the side of my leg. I was more worried about hands in wheels, because I was on top of my bike and then underneath that, and I couldn’t get away from anything. It was a fucking dickhead move.”
Davies did not aggravate any of the injuries he suffered in the winter in the crash, but was limping heavily all the same.
Melandri’s take on the matter was: “It’s unfortunate that Chaz didn’t leave me the same amount of space I left him when the positions were reversed on the previous lap, but for me it was a racing incident and nothing more.”
The Italian has received a six-place grid penalty for the incident.
