Chaz Davies took a popular Ducati second place in race one at Misano after long time second place runner Eugene Laverty ran wide and lost significant time, allowing Davies to power past him and take the runner-up spot.

Davies was unsure if he could have caught Laverty before the end without that sudden window of opportunity.

“It was much of a muchness there towards the end,” said Davies. “I dunno, without the mistake if I had got on terms I was pulling maybe a tenth or two back but whether it would have been enough towards the end of the race, I dunno - not sure.

"I had not settled for third and I was keeping pushing on and try to get Eugene back. I think it wad five to go when he made the mistake so I thought I would try and capitalise on that and keep it rubber side down to the end.”

With Rea clear out front, and slowing on the final lap, Davies was 2.791 behind Rea at the end, after getting pretty much all he could out of his bike. There is still something missing to let him get on terms with Rea, it appears.

“Just a little bit of efficiency from the bike,” said Davies as the missing link. “It is not one single problem. At Brno I said I needed grip but we have done well in the last couple of races to give me that grip back. That is important, the first thing you need. The main thing for me is to have a bike, which is efficient, which turns, is fast, which does not have too much transfer when the tyre drops, and I can keep a good pace with.

"Our bike is probably a bit more competitive from the middle to the end of the race with me, but overall we miss a little bit in the beginning and it is not one detail. It is a few things and only one or two tenths at that we miss. I felt like the guys really did a good bike this weekend and I got the most out of it, so you can’t do more than that.”

New rubber in the championship has affected Davies and his fellow Ducati riders possibly adversely, recently, but things improved at Misano.

“In the past races I had a bit of difficulty with the big rear tyre Pirelli brought a new front tyre which has helped,” said Davies about this week’s wider front rubber. “It is a combination of everything it is the tyre and set-up and we did not find a good way in the last race. We did here today. I used the big front tyre today.

"It is a bit heavier and slower to turn, but for us it feels like it is a little bit easier to feel the front right at the apex of the corner and get the thing turned. It does not keep ploughing the front all the time. It seems to have a bit more solidity to it. That is the main difference for me.”