GoldBet BMW’s Chaz Davies had a tough afternoon at Portimao today. He crashed in the final stages of the World Superbike free practice session, two hours before the start of the Superpole. The rider sustained injuries to his elbow and even though the Welshman made it through Superpole one, he only managed to set the twelfth fastest time and will start the main races tomorrow from the fourth row.

In this morning’s second qualifying practice, conditions were dry but at noon, light rain started to fall. As a consequence, the riders waited until the track had dried again to go out in the free practice session. With only a few minutes to go, Davies lost control over the rear coming over a crest and he crashed. He suffered a cut to his right arm which was stitched up at the Clinica Mobile.

Superpole started in dry conditions, with both Davies and team-mate Marco Melandri completing their first outing on race tyres. Then Davies opted for his first qualifying tyre, setting the second fastest time of Superpole one. During the first flying lap for the riders in Superpole two the session was red flagged due to a rain shower. It was bad luck for the Powys based rider as the red flag ended his attempt on his second and last qualifying tyre.

Davies felt that his bike did improve before his crash in the second free practice session, but riding in the Superpole sessions with an elbow and arm injury proved a little bit too much for the rider, and failing to make the best of his qualifying tyre also put a dampener on the Welshman’s afternoon.

“It’s been frustrating because before the crash I felt that the bike was better. This was part of the reason why I crashed because I carried more speed across the crest but I think it was a bit too much speed for the set-up of the bike we had at that time. The bike kind of took off over the top so it was a pretty hard crash,” said Davies.

“I have a hole in my elbow and I banged my head pretty hard so I did not feel too great before Superpole. Anyway, we made it through the first part with a decent lap time. Then we had the red flag, but that was the same for everybody.

“ In the final session I could not make the best use of the qualifying tyre and I made a mistake in my best flying lap with it. I think the tyre was six laps old by then which is way over the hill for a qualifier. For tomorrow we need to further improve.

“We still need to work on the set up and find something I am comfortable with and which helps to absorb the bumps. That’s the priority for tomorrow.”