GoldBet BMW’s Chaz Davies had another nightmare race weekend after he failed to complete the final World Superbike race due to what appeared to be an engine blow out and could only manage a top ten finish in race one. The Welshman is gladly putting this weekend behind him after labelling it as ‘crap’.
Race two was bitter sweet for Davies as at one point he was leading the pack and was in contention for the win, but he slipped back to third after battling with Kawasaki’s Loris Baz and Fixi Crescent Suzuki’s Jules Cluzel and came to abrupt halt at Stowe corner with three laps to go, leaving the Powys based rider unsure of what exactly went wrong to the engine.
“I am not sure exactly what happened but it seemed like an engine blow out and it cut out on me and it didn’t sound too healthy. I was pushing for a podium and even the win which is a shame and unfortunately it was an off home weekend, it was just crap,” said a dismayed Davies, speaking to bikesportnews.com at the circuit.
“The bike had stability issues and didn’t have the pace in the end in race one. In race two we were able improve but engine problems let us down but we were decent in the dry, but we couldn’t make the best of it.”
Race two was eventually red flagged after Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam crashed out moments after Cluzel succumbed to the same fate, on the slippery track conditions. Davies feels that the red flag should have come out sooner, especially when the rain started to fall.
“You have to think how much rain actually falls on the circuit, sometimes you get the odd spot here and there and there is not much on the circuit. But then other times it can get greasy and it has surface water and that is when you have to be a bit careful, which some of the guys found out today. There are times when it is dangerous especially when you have slick tyres going at race pace. It seems like they wait for a couple of crashes and then stick the red flag out, but in my opinion that is too late.”
Davies is now thinking positively and is looking forward to his team’s home round in Germany, and the Brit is hoping he will be able to emulate the winning form he found at the Nurburgring last year.
“I would love to be able to put on a good show in Germany as it is BMW’s home race but we will see how far we will get there and see how quick we go.”
