Having ended day one on top, Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) took his best result of the 2019 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, with a second in the full-distance Race 2. The Welshman, who was back on the front row for the first time since Imola, utilised his pace at the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca to look the most competitive he has seemed all season.

Starting a bit timidly, Davies swooped back ahead of his teammate Alvaro Bautista at the penultimate corner on the opening lap, before charging down Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK). Momentarily, Davies was in the lead after a brave move at Turn 1 at the start of Lap 5, but he was forced to sit up at Turn 2 and slotted back into second place, where he’d remain for the rest of the race.

Reviewing Race 1, Davies stated: “Definitely the right way forward this weekend after the last couple of rounds. I am really happy to be back on the podium, just to give a little bit back to my guys too, who have been working so, so hard to try and get me even more comfortable at the types of circuits that we’ve been up against.”

It was an 83^rd podium for Davies, who is now just four behind Aaron Slight in the overall podium rankings. It was the 28^th occasion of which Davies has been second and the third consecutive occasion at Laguna Seca.

Continuing, the Welshman said: “The race itself was decent and I felt good in the early stages; I went with the soft rear tyre and that was only just hanging on in the final laps, it was really tricky. I probably won’t be running that option in Race 2 tomorrow afternoon but overall, I am pretty happy. I will look at where we were struggling here today, to use that knowledge and hopefully, improve tomorrow.”

Can Chaz Davies reverse the result on Sunday? Find out with the WorldSBK VideoPass!