Davies Ready To Take Fight To Rea In Holland

Chaz Davies finished second fastest in opening World Superbikes practice in Holland but says there is more to come.

The Knighton-born racer was just 0.112secs off the pace set by Kawasaki rival and title pacesetter Jonathan Rea on the Assen track.

Davies is second in the standings 50 points behind the reigning champ going into the fourth round of the championship.

The 30-year-old ended Rea’s perfect start to the season in the second race at Aragon in Spain last time out.

But the Ulsterman has won the last five races at the so-called Cathedral of Speed where he has won nine times in all.

Ducati racer Davies said was third fastest in the morning session before clocking a personal best of 1:35.495 in the afternoon session.

Davies said: “I’m quite happy with our performance for today.

“I feel like we’re still off the mark in some areas, but not far, especially when it comes to lap times.

“We did a medium-size run, the lap times came more easily towards the end and the tyres looked quite good, so that’s positive.

“We just need to tidy up a few things, in particular we need to get more stability as the bike behaves a bit wildly here and there, especially in the faster parts of the track, in order to get it to turn better from straight braking until the apex.

“The forecast says it should be dry for the rest of the weekend, so… fingers crossed.”

Qualifying takes place on Saturday followed by the first race of the double header.