Davies Eyeing Second Spot As Rea Heads Towards Historic Hat-Trick

Chaz Davies is targeting the runners-up spot in the World Superbikes Championship despite a costly crash in Portugal.

The Knighton-born rider crashed in Sunday’s second race after battling his way up to second spot having finished second to Jonathan Rea in the first race.

Davies was looking to take advantage of Tom Sykes’ misfortune after the Huddersfield-born rider missed both races after a fiery crash in practice on Saturday morning.

Sykes, the 2013 champ, has had surgery on a badly broken finger but will be hopeful of being back for the next round in Magny Cours, France, in two weeks’ time.

Davies is third in the standings on 296 points just 15 behind Sykes and would have overtaken his rival had he not slid off just three laps from home on Sunday.

Rea, the reigning two-time champ, needs only to finish second in the first race in France to become the first man in history to win the title three times in a row.

Davies had started on the third row following his second place on Saturday and made several spectacular passes to move second before crashing the Ducati at turn two.

The aruba.it Racing rider said: “It’s disappointing to finish the race like that because we’ve missed an easy podium.

“Our pace was OK, we were holding station with Rea without pushing over the top.

“But towards the end I relaxed a little and closed the the throttle a bit earlier than usual going into turn 2, which ended up loading the front too much, and I went down.”

Davies, runner-up to Rea in 2015, added: “I was surprised because it’s a strange place to crash, especially when you feel like you’re cruising.

“That said, we’ve definitely made improvements, but we still want to make another step forward in terms of stability at the end of the race, something on which we’ll work on tomorrow.

“Looking at the positive, we’ve closed in to second position in the championship, due to Tom’s misfortune, and with him back we should have an interesting end to the season, so I’m looking forward to the next round.”