GoldBet BMW rider Chaz Davies looked like he was going to clinch his third World Superbike victory of the season in Moscow, but the adverse weather conditions caused an upset and resulted in the first flag to flag race in the series. The Welshman was pipped to the post by team-mate Marco Melandri and had to settle for second on the podium in a race that Davies has labelled ‘one of the strangest ever’.

The Powys based resident did have a ten second lead with over ten laps remaining, as the rider was able to take advantage of the crashing Althea Racing’s Davide Giugliano to take the lead.

The race started off in the dry but quickly turned into a down pour with rain drenching the Russian track, Davies ventured into the pits on his 20th lap followed closely by Melandri. The former MotoGP rider’s team was marginally faster with the change from slicks to wets in the pits and was the first BMW to emerge back on to the circuit, meaning Davies had lost the lead and ended the race in second.

But the rider did take positives from the race, as he felt his bike was working well, particularly in the dry conditions, but was aware that he lost some speed in the wet and was never able to catch up with his team-mate to challenge for the top spot on the rostrum. Davies would have liked to have taken the win but was content with finishing a rather tricky race.

“The weather conditions changed quite a bit, and was one of the strangest races that I have ever done,” said Davies.

“We were not quick enough in the wet, but the bike did work great in the dry, but with everything that happened in the race I am pretty happy with second place today.”