Chaz Davies announced on Thursday evening that he will be stepping away from World Superbike Championship competition after over a decade in the paddock.
Having joined WorldSBK in 2010, after competing in both the 125cc and 250cc World Championships, the Welshman was crowned WorldSSP Champion in 2011 before moving into the top class with Aprilia - and securing a victory in his rookie year.
Racing with three manufacturers throughout his 10 seasons on a Superbike - Aprilia, BMW and Ducati - Davies ends his career with the Go Eleven squad having amassed 99 podiums and 32 wins from his 263 appearances.
“Unfortunately, in some ways, fortunately in other ways, this will be my last season in WorldSBK,” Davies said at Jerez on Thursday evening. “Obviously it’s a decision that has not come easily and taken a lot of thought, because I’m a strong believer that when you’re done, you’re done and to me the timing seems right to make this decision.
“Very difficult, a lot of deliberation, especially being here at the circuit again - it even felt different just walking in a couple of hours ago to make this announcement, you need to change something in your head and anyway here we are.
“There’s a lot of reasons behind it, a lot of deliberation and wondering if it’s the right move but I’m very confident - happy and sad at the same time - that it is the right decision. And just ready to turn the page and open up the next chapter.
“You’re trying to make me cry!” he said after watching a highlights package of his time in the Championship. “Brings back so many memories. It’s not just these 12 years that I’ve spent in this paddock, it’s the 15 years before that, of getting to that point to actually realise a goal. And then here we are 12 seasons later from that statement, and just so much happens, every race, every year. I think the overwhelming feeling when I look back on videos like that, are just, I’m so grateful to be in this position to have had the opportunity to do these things, to have met so many people. Looking from the outside in, it’s just sport, and I know we all take it so, so, seriously on the weekends and you have to, but I think with some perspective, that will probably sink in over time, it’ll only get sweeter for me when I look back on everything that racing’s given me. Just a lot of a lot of great memories and yeah, I don’t want to cry in front of you lot!
“I’ve been super fortunate that actually the group of people around me was the same from the first season with BMW, that then morphed into the Ducati teams. The Feel Racing outfit, was a superb group of people, and then the input from Ducati, in 2014. They really stepped up the programme for 2015, and were back involved in a factory capacity after a couple of years out. I’ve had so many good times and I think for me, one of the most special things that I’ve experienced in all these years, is winning races on Italian soil, and especially Imola, just down the road from Bologna, and I can genuinely say there’s no feeling like it there, it’s just pinch yourself city. All the Ducatisti there in force and it really does feel something special. Actually in the moment, I can reflect on it now but actually in the moment I was like, ‘You’ve got to remember this because these are the days that are beyond sweet’. I’ll definitely hold on to those memories but a lot of good times, a lot of good people.”
When questions from the floor were allowed, the first, maybe surprisingly, came in the form of ex-teammate Scott Redding.
“A sensible question, I wasn’t expecting that!” Davies responded when asked if he was ‘done, done, or wanted to continue riding in some form’.
“I think that, it’s difficult to drop it, just like that. I’m very confident in my decision that racing at this level is no longer something that I want to be a part of, say. But I think when it’s in you, you know what it’s like, and when you have that feeling of pushing yourself, I want to hold on to that a little bit. So I think I’ll still be training out with Supermoto, with Motocross, and to be honest I’m not looking for opportunities - if something presents itself in a different, like a testing opportunity, say for example, something that will give me the motivation to keep on training and keep on riding, then I would certainly look at something like that, but at the minute that’s far away from my thoughts. It’s just to say that I’m certainly done racing at this level.”
“I just want to say that Chaz is not only a great rider, but is also a great, great person,” Serafino Foti, Aruba.it Ducati Team Manager said of the announcement. “I spend the last nine years of my racing life with you and I learned a lot. So I just want to say thank you for your commitment. Thank you for the great emotion you gave us. So now it’s time to change and for sure, you can enjoy your beautiful family, your beautiful wife, your princess Bay. And for sure you will remain in my head for all my life. Thank you so much Chaz.”
“I’m not finishing in the hospital. Definitely not!” He said when asked if his career stopped today, or at the end of the season “That’s not part of the plan. I would love to come back for Argentina if I feel okay. That’s the target at the minute but yeah certainly do not want to finish my time in World Superbike being carted off on a stretcher.
“I think last year there was a good case for making the decision then, and I was super close, to be honest with you but I couldn’t quite do it. I had finished on a high, I finished winning in Esteril and I still had that taste and wanted to scratch the itch. So, went again and to be honest I’ve enjoyed the season, apart from it’s not been great but, found a new team, I’ve met a lot of new people, and I’ve enjoyed the experience with the GO Eleven team. Yeah, it hasn’t worked out for a number of reasons. Last year, thinking about it, maybe I should have, maybe I shouldn’t have but this year I’m very confident one year later, that it’s the right decision.
“I’m obviously not just going to disappear, you’ve still got to race me in Argentina hopefully,” he continued. “
Just to say that, as competitive as it is, for such a group of guys here as well, workers, working here in the paddock but also competitors on track. I think Superbike’s in a great place at the minute. I owe so much to this championship and the great people within it. I’m just extremely grateful for the experience that the championship’s given me, and the memories, and I think, going forward, I’ve got a daughter to sort of grow up with. Spend a little more time at home, take the foot off the gas a little bit, evaluate other opportunities in life. I’ve sort of always said that racing is really important, but it’s certainly not everything. For me it’s the time to move on, and I’m really looking forward to that. Both nervous and excited at the same time. I just want to say thanks to everybody that’s supported me, there’s too many to name I could, drone on for a good while, there’s 25 years of people, manufacturers, that have been behind me. Thanks to everybody that’s supporting me and thanks to all my competitors. We push each other, they’ve raised my game and hopefully I’ve raised other people’s games as well and that’s the best part of all this. So, just thank you everybody, and good luck!”
