Aragon a ‘reset’ for Davies
Ducati’s Chaz Davies says this weekend’s Aragon round of the 2017 World Superbike Championship will act as a ‘reset’ for the field after two very different races in Australia and Thailand.
The Welshman has taken to the rostrum on three occasions so far in 2017, finishing runner-up in both races at Phillip Island and taking second in the opening race of the Thailand weekend.
Davies sees the Aragon round as a restart point for the championship, and one where the team can truly gauge where they are in the competitive order with the Panigale R.
“I’m looking forward to getting back to racing in Europe,” he said.
“In a way, things kind of reset at this point and the season gets in full swing. The first two rounds are always a bit different.
“Aragon is a track I’ve always had good success at, for one reason or another, but of course we still want to improve and take the next steps forward.
“This round represents an important chance for us to establish our base for the rest of the season and sort of see where we’re really at.”
Davies is the most successful rider on the grid at the Spanish venue. The Ducati rider has taken five wins, including doubles in 2013 and 2016, and has tallied up an impressive 187 points.
After crashing during the second race of the Thailand round, Davies was forced into a recovery ride, from which he salvaged sixth.
This put him 30 points back from championship leader Jonathan Rea, who won the opening four races. Despite this, Davies knows he is in a better position than he was at this stage 12 months ago, and this has him determined to improve this weekend.
“We’re in a lot better position compared with last year in terms of points collected,” he continued.
“It was disappointing to crash like that in Race 2 in Thailand; it’s strange how it unfolded but we also got lucky with the red flags.
“We’re second on the championship, but of course we want to finish in better positions.”