Chaz Battles Back To Claim Podium Finish In California

Chaz Davies is confident of coming back even stronger after bagging a vital podium in Sunday’s World Superbikes race in California.

The Knighton-born rider recovered from crashing out in Saturday’s race to finish third at Laguna Seca.

Davies finished behind Ducati team-mate Davide Giugliano after a thrilling battle in the closing laps as Tom Sykes just held them off to win.

The podium spot left Davies third in the standings with 260 points – 108 behind leader Jonathan Rea, who failed to finish, and 62 adrift of Sykes.

The championship now takes a long summer break with the next round at the Lausitzring in Germany on September 16-18.

The 29-year-old said: “Today went a bit better.

“After what happened on Saturday, I concentrated on finishing the race first of all, initially focusing just on my rhythm.

“I wanted to avoid being particularly aggressive early on, but I was stuck in the group at the start and had to ask a lot to the rear tyre to recover on Davide and Tom.

“I think we could have won, but I went wide at the Corkscrew, possibly because of the wind, and in the last laps I didn’t have enough grip to try more overtakes.

“It was important to go into the break with a podium, and we’ll use this time to understand where to improve.”

Giugliano has got off to a strong start in the 25-lap race taking the lead on lap three before the race was red flagged.

At the restart, being first on the grid, Giugliano stayed at the front initially, while Davies climbed back from seventh position after being stuck in the pack.

Davies got back right on the heels of Sykes and his team-mate leading to a spectacular duel between the Ducatis in the last seven laps.

The duo exchanged positions several times before the Italian took second by five-tenths-of-a-second.