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SBK, Davies: "racing at Imola makes me feel like a rockstar"

Chaz's second win of the season "the crowd's support helped me. Rea? We'll never be friends but there needs to be mutual respect". Third for Melandri: "yesterday I would have agreed to the podium"

SBK: Davies: "racing at Imola makes me feel like a rockstar"

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At the Imola track, Chaz Davies wanted to win at all costs: the Santerno racetrack is home turf for the Ducati team and the factory, in Borgo Panigale, is not even a 30 minute ride away. Just like last year, the Welsh #7 dominated race 1, putting his rivals firmly in their place.

This is Chaz's second win of the 2017 season, after that scored on Sunday at Aragon, and the number 7 Ducati rider is third in the standings, 79 points behind the current champion Rea. He'll be doing all he can to repeat this performance as often as possible between now and the end of the season: “right from Friday I had great feeling at the front of my Panigale - commented Chaz after the win- and I was able to make the most of our strength through the chicanes and with the power delivery in acceleration. Today I won and I realise that Rea has a significant advantage in the standings but we know how to work now and what our level of competitiveness is like”.

Is the win all down to you, or has the bike improved, moving closer to the Kawasaki?

“I get on well at Imola, it's true; but today I was able to win thanks to the Panigale, which really suits a track like this one. I was comfortable at Aragon too, because it has similar characteristics to Imola. Today it was the Davies-Ducati combination that won”.

Just like last year, Chaz was cheered on by the passionate Italian crowd and tensions with Rea seem to have dissipated somewhat: “when I arrived at the track, people were stopping me. Every time I come to race at Imola, I'm greeted like this and it makes me feel like a rockstar. The passion of the fans, their attention and support really spurred me on, they helped me. At the end of the race Johnny shook my hand, a great gesture. It's important that there is always mutual respect between him and me, despite what happened at Assen. he and I are nevery going to be so-called "best friends" and, for as long as we're rivals on track, we're not going to be grabbing a beer together”.

On the third step of the podium is Marco Melandri, who battled hard against the two Kawasakis: “Rea passed me while braking and I couldn't do anything about it - explained Marco- so I managed my race, in third place, defending myself from Sykes. I'm only disappointed that some issues held me back and so I couldn't express myself 100%”.

What type of problems?

I was suffering when I had to brake hard, especially at the Acque Minerali; I was also struggling in acceleration, every time I changed gear the bike would jump and I couldn't exploit all its power. To push hard I was also getting into trouble with the tyres. i expected to battle with the Kawasakis here but not against Davies. Considering it all, and my feeling on the bike, I would have happily agreed to third if you'd told me the result yesterday”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Translated by Heather Watson
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