Davies Aiming To Halt Runaway Train Rea In Assen

Chaz Davies resumes his World Superbikes campaign in Holland this weekend looking to stop title pacesetter Jonathan Rea going double Dutch again.

The Knighton-born racer ended reigning two-time champ Rea’s perfect start to the season by winning the second race at the last round in Aragon.

And he will be out to halt his rival on the Assen track where the Ulsterman has won nine times – including the last four and doubles in 2015 and last year.

Davies – who has three second places in the last two years at the Cathedral of Speed – is 50 points adrift of Rea after the opening three rounds.

The aruba.it Racing Ducati ace, 30, said: “I’m looking forward to this weekend, especially as I think we’ve made some good improvements in the post-race tests at Aragon.

“It’s going to be another opportunity to evaluate the parts that we’ve introduced and seemed to work really well in Spain.

“Assen is a completely different circuit so it will be a good test, but anyway I’m confident we’ve made another step forward.

“I’ve had pretty good results at Assen, in the past couple of years.

“We had a good pace in dry conditions but the weather is always a question mark and last year we made a strategic mistake in flag-to-flag conditions, but we learned from it so we’re keen to pick up from where we left off at Aragon.”

Rea is confident of adding to his tally of wins at the track but admits it is Davies who is usually pushing him to the limit.

The 30-year-old said: “It is certainly not going to be easy but I feel good on the bike.

“We are not going there targeting anything less than two race wins.

“I’m not unbeatable at Assen but it’s true I have had a lot of good results there.

“If I look back through previous years, it’s always been a bit of a freight train and when it gets down to the last laps, it’s always Chaz that is there.

“While I have come out on top, he is there, less than a second behind so it’s not like I have dominated.”