Davies Swaps Sofa For Top Place Of Podium With US Victory

Chaz Davies roared to a stunning victory on his World Superbikes comeback in California.

The Powys-born flier triumphed in race one t Laguna Seca just three weeks after breaking a bone in his lower back in Italy.

Davies was forced to miss the second race at Misano after the nasty shunt and was only given the green light to race in the United States on Thursday.

But he defied any pain to see off the Kawasaki duo of reigning two-tie champ Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes.

The Ducati racer’s win was the fourth of his career and 24th of his career.

Davies said: “It’s been a couple of tough weeks, sitting on the sofa or the physio bed, so to come back and win at Laguna Seca is special.

“This victory means a lot to me, because I’ve been talking to my crew before coming here and I said ‘if I can race, I’ll be ready to have a go at the victory’.

“But, it’s easier said than done. The race was tough. Track temperatures were really high and the grip level dropped.

“I couldn’t trust the front completely, but managed my own race. I was expecting Johnny to attack in the final laps but that moment never came and we sealed one of the most memorable wins of my career.

“Now we’ll think about a strategy to attack starting from third row for the second race.”

Davies took the lead on lap 11 before making a decisive push with three laps to go to win by 1.2secs from Rea with Sykes almost five secs further back.

And Davies celebrated the win by holding up a number 69 flag in tribute to the late Nicky Hayden, who tragically died recently after being hit by a car while out cycling in Italy.

Davies is still third in the standings with 210 points with Rea leading on 316 – 54 points ahead of Sykes ahead of Sunday’s race two.