SBK, Davies: "It would have been an exciting last lap"

It was a bittersweet Saturday for Ducati, with the positive being the podium for Marco Melandri, and the negative the technical problem that struck Chaz Davies just a few metres before the start of the final lap, when the fight for the win was still very much alive.

The Welshman is now a significant distance behind Rea in the championship, but he analyses the race with intelligence: “It was a great race. I immediately got into a rhythm , leading the race, and our pace was competitive, especially in the first laps. Despite this, we were struggling in a couple of areas and I didn't want to make a mistake, so I tried to ensure that we could fight for the win on the last lap. SAdly, we had to stop before that”.

The doubt will forever remain as to what might have happened on that last lap if the #7 Panigale hadn't made a premature exit. But despite this, Davies tries to look ahead. “It's disappointing of course, I don't know how it would have finished, but I think it would have been an exciting last lap to watch. At least we know we were competitive, and now have to make a couple of adjustments before tomorrow's race. We hope to right for the win once more, but to the line this time.” 

Marco Melandri can be satisfied with his race one, seeing as he's taken a podium after two difficult days of practice, useful for both morale and the standings. This doesn't cancel out the Italian's doubts though. “Up until this morning– explains #33 – I wouldn't have expected to finish the race on the podium. We struggled in FP3 and I thought it would be tough to even finish top five. The team did a great job though and before Superpole I'd got the feeling with the bike back. At the start of the race I was fast, but our pace wasn't enough to stick with the front guys, so I preferred not to take any unnecessary risks. I'm sorry for Chaz, he was really unlucky, but I'm pleased with our result and I'll try to do better tomorrow”.

The main aim ahead of race 2 will presumably be to improve the bike, seeing as Marco seemed to have various issues: “The conditions are very different here to the previous races. The bike was moving a lot and we still haven't found the constancy we need at the front over race distance, but we'll analyse the data to try and take another step before Race 2”.