Rain is a pain for Herefordshire Superbike ace Chaz Davies (From Hereford Times)

Rain is a pain for Herefordshire Superbike ace Chaz Davies

3:30pm Wednesday 25th April 2012 in Other

CHAZ Davies admits he is not fully prepared for racing in the rain after it caused the first of two crashes during round three of his maiden World Superbike season in Assen.

The 25-year-old ParkinGO MTC Racing rider recovered from a fractured radius that forced him out of the season’s first two races in Australia to record two points from round two in Imola.

And Davies, starting on 11th on the grid, looked set to add to that early on in race one in Holland, riding as high as third, but after 13 laps the heavens opened and ruined Davies’ hopes. Red flags led to the race being halted and, not properly adjusted to the conditions upon its restart, Davies crashed, while in race two after a good start he hit a damp patch and went down again.

That happened at the halfway stage resulting in Davies failing to finish either race and bemoaning his failure to be comfortable whenever it rains on the world paddock.

“I was really happy with the first part of race one when it was dry.

“I was feeling very comfortable but then it got red flagged through rain,” said Davies.

“We ended up going out in the rain and I crashed.

“I haven’t found the set up that I like in the rain; I am struggling a little bit with that.

“There was no real mistake, the bike kind of let go with no real warning.

“That was a little bit disappointing but then I was quite happy to see it was dry again in the second race.

“I tried to pick up where I left off in the first part of race one which was dry. Everything was going good; I think I was fifth or sixth and on the back of the podium group. “But then I made a small mistake, I went wide only by a little bit through the first corner and I touched the kerb and the paint and must have hit a wet patch.”

While Davies was bemoaning two failures to finish, Sylvain Guintoli and Jonathan Rea — a perennial feature on the podium at Assen — toasted victory in race one and two respectively.

Davies will now move on to round four at Monza at the start of May and he has vowed to learn from his experiences at Assen and the season so far.

“It was not the results I was hoping for and I am learning that these Superbikes don’t really give and in the end it was nicer to jump off in race two,” he added.

“Two non-scoring finishes again is very disappointing but even if I am crashing I am happy that I am fast.

“This is all about learning and that is what we are doing and we move on to Monza.”

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