Davies Hopes Cut Short By Electrical Problems

Chaz Davies was left to rue electrical problems which hit his hopes of finishing runner-up in this year’s World Superbikes Championship.

The Knighton-born rider had to settle for 10th spot in race one at Magny-Cours in France as Jonathan Rea sealed an historic hat-trick of titles with victory.

That left Davies still in third spot in the standings but now 25 points behind Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes which finished third on Saturday just two weeks after surgery on a bust finger.

Davies is hoping to hit-back in Sunday’s second race after which there are just two rounds left in the season.

The 30-year-old said: “We had a strong start and the bike felt good at the beginning of the race.

“But after three laps it had an issue and it became hard to control. It started to lock the rear and spin a lot under acceleration.

“We’ll look into it, but all we could do was to try and make it to the checkered flag, so I’m a bit disappointed.

“In the dry, we were making good progress. Our pace wasn’t the best but we were competitive nonetheless.

“Hopefully it will be dry during WUP as well, as we want to verify one final step with the setup. I’m quite confident about the direction we were going in, so hopefully we can bounce back with a solid result in Race 2.”

Davies, runner-up to Rea two years ago, started seventh on the grid but was forced to lose ground after a strong start that saw him take second position within a few corners.

He suffered an electrical issue that hindered his performance both under braking and acceleration and despite battling hard brought his aruba.it Racing bike home in 10th spot.

Davies’ Ducati team-mate Marco Melandri swept past Sykes late in the race to grab second spot and keep his hopes of third place overall alive.