GoldBet BMW’s Chaz Davies was having a solid start to his World Superbike weekend at Assen, until the Superpole sessions began, and a technical issue with his BMW S1000RR machine prevented him from progressing into Superpole two.

The Welshman only completed three laps before returning to the garage, and from there he had to watch the rest of the grid produce faster lap times, putting him firmly in the drop zone, alongside HTM Racing’s Ivan Clementi and Grillini Dentalmatic’s Vittorio Iannuzzo.

Davies will start the World Superbike race from thirteenth on the grid tomorrow, and the rider who hails from Presteigne in Powys is under no illusions of just how tough the race is going to be, having to start so far back on the grid.

“The free practice went well. We made a step forward with the bike so I was a little bit happier and we were continuing to make progress. But then unfortunately, in Superpole as soon as I left the pits I could feel that something wasn’t quite right. I tried to do one quick lap but in the end it was not good enough to get me through to Superpole two," said the Brit.

Davies is still unsure of what the problem was with his BMW bike, but is now turning his attentions to bagging some points tomorrow afternoon.

“I am not sure what the problem was, the guys are looking into it now. Obviously I am very disappointed because it is not easy to pass at Assen and it is going to be two very difficult races tomorrow. Starting so far back with my rivals in the front two rows, it is easy to lose some time in the first few laps so we need to make progress in the early part of the race. I think tomorrow we just have to try and get as many points as possible.”

Andrea Dosoli, Technical Director of the GoldBet BMW team, has apologised to the Brit, and the garage are currently investigating the technical issues that occurred during Superpole one.

“Chaz made a big step from qualifying practice to the second free practice and showed a good performance on the race tyre, riding the third fastest time of the session. Unfortunately he could not continue this performance during the Superpole due to an issue that has to be investigated and we are very sorry for this. But we are confident that this will give him even more motivation to catch up in the race tomorrow,” said Dosoli.