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- Chaz Davies Second At Imola After Fierce Battle With Jonathan Rea
Chaz Davies lost out in a high-speed battle with Jonathan Rea at the World Superbikes round in Imola.
The Knighton-born rider had to settle for second spot as the Ulsterman equalled Carl Fogarty’s record of 59 wins.
Davies came home just over four seconds adrift with their battle earlier seeing them bang into each other.
The aruba it Racing Ducati rider is still second in the championship standings but 47 points adrift of Rea.
Davies, 31, said: “I threw the sink at it today and it wasn’t enough unfortunately.
“I didn’t have a feeling from the early laps and I just struggled to get that traction in certain places.
“It was all sorts of issues. I could hear Jonny and I knew he was behind me and it was a matter of time when he came by.
“I thought I’d try and go with him but 20 points is as as good it was going to be.
“But it’s good to be on the podium at this race.
“It’s not the result we would have liked, but we still had fun.”
Davies will hope to hit back in the title battle at his home round at Donington Park in two weeks’ time.
“Donington is always nice as we get the support of the home crowd and friends and family,” added Davies.
“It’s not been our strongest track in recent years, but we have made progress there.
‘Hopefully we can find some improvements at the Mugello test in a few days time.”
Davies started on pole at his team’s home track having finished fourth in Saturday’s first race which was also won by Rea who made it a record 17th double.
But it was Michael Rinaldi who blasted into the lead before Davies reeled him in within a few laps to take the lead.
Rea has started ninth as per the regulations but charged through the field to soon take second behind his rival.
Rea shadowed Davies for the next 10 laps making several attempts to overtake which were fended off by Davies in thrilling fashion.
But Rea eventually made a move stick into the Variante Alta on lap 14 and soon built up a race winning lead.
The reigning three-time champ said: “We got it done and it was probably the best race win of the season.
“Coming from ninth on the grid, it was so difficult. I was not so confident I could win today.
“When I arrived with Chaz I was able to relax a little bit behind him and understand where I could pass him.
“I tried two or three times, but he was determined to come back. The final time I made it through, into the Variante Alta, it was time to put my head down, set two clean laps and make a gap.
“It was really nice to equal the record total of race wins, and with a long season left I feel confident that I can extend my win tally, and that is super-nice.”
Davies 2018 Results
Rd 1: Australia (Phillip Island) Qualified: 5th
Race 1: 3rd Race 2: DNF (crash)
Championship Position: 7th – 16 points (1st Marco Melandri 50points)
Rd 2: Thailand (Buriram) Qual: 9th
Race 1: 3rd Race 2: 1st
Champ Pos: 4th – 57 pts (1st Jonathan Rea – 69pts)
Rd 3; Aragon (spain) Qual: 11th
Race 1 (Restarted) 2nd Race 2: 1st
Champ Pos: 2nd – 102 pts (1st Rea – 114pts)
Rd 4: Dutch (Assen) Qual: 8th
Race 1: 3rd Race 2: 5th
Champ Pos: 2nd – 129 pts (1st Rea – 159pts)
Rd 5: Italian (Imola) Qual: 3rd.
Race 1: 4th 2nd Race: 2nd.
Champ Pos: 2nd 162 pts (1st Rea – 209 pts)
