News

Ahead of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship visiting the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto, the news was announced that Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) would be retiring from the Championship at the end of the 2021 season. Following the news, his rivals, friends and colleagues have paid tribute to the three-time runner-up after a decade-long career in the fastest production-based Championship.

Davies had some intense battles with Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) during his career. Rea said: ““Chaz has been my career rival. We’ve had many good battles, many last lap battles; some that he won, some that I won, but in the end, I think we really pushed each other and he got the best out of me, and I think whoever won the battle on Sunday, you knew it was a good one. We were both quite fierce competitors and it was always nice.”

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) watched Davies in WorldSBK while he was competing in STK1000. Razgatlioglu said: “When I was racing in Superstock 1000, I was watching WorldSBK and Chaz was the rider with my favourite style, as he is very hard braking and a lot of sliding when he enters the corner. After, I started to ride with him and when we fight together, it is incredible and with the riding style too. Outside of the track, he’s a very good guy and we always speak with him.”

Dennis Sacchetti Team Manager at Team GoEleven, Davies’ last Team Manager in WorldSBK, said: “It’s difficult now because I am really emotional. Chaz was my hero when I was a rider and when the Team GoEleven entered this Championship, Chaz was there fighting for the Championship. The Championship loses one of the best riders in the world. I have learnt a lot from him, so I’m happy because I got the opportunity to work with him and to grow myself, grow the team and I have to thank him for this.”

Scott Redding was Davies’ teammate at Aruba.it Racing – Ducati in 2020, but the memories go way beyond that single season working together: “Chaz gave me one of my first trophies when I was maybe six years old with the minibike at his track his dad owned. I was able to become teammates with him and he was everything and more from what I expected of him. Coming to a new team, there’s always the new guy, a little bit of tension. With Chaz, there was never that. What felt good for me was Chaz saying he hoped he made other riders work hard, made them better. I was one of those guys. I came to a team and wanted to beat my teammate and my teammate was Chaz. When a new guy comes, and he beats you, you get a lot of tension. I never had one ounce of friction with Chaz.”

Leon Haslam (Team HRC) said: “My first very battle with Chaz was actually at his house on the pitbikes when he was maybe 11 years old. I have a lot of good memories with Chaz, there’s been a lot of memorable races fighting on the track, he’s always been a super late braker, same as me, so we’ve had some fantastic battles. The last 10-15 years have been fantastic.”

Serafino Foti, Team Manager at Aruba.it Racing – Ducati, worked with Davies for most of the Welshman’s WorldSBK career: “I have a lot of memories with Chaz because we spent nine years together. The first race he won with the Panigale V4, the win in Imola in front of many Ducatisti was an amazing memory. For me, the best memory I have is that I spent nine years with him with great emotions.”

Leon Camier, Team HRC’s Team Manager, raced alongside Davies, and said: “I remember in Thailand in 2018, I remember it being a little bit of a weird situation where he was trying to pass me, and I know he said after the race he didn’t want to stick one on me because it was me. I was feeling the same when I was behind him, I was thinking I want to try to pass him back, but you have to take that little bit of consideration in, you’re friends and don’t want to do something stupid.”

KRT’s Alex Lowes was another who raced alongside Davies, saying: “Obviously, I’ve known Chaz for a long, long time. I followed him when he was really young, when he was racing with Leon Camier and Casey Stoner in the British championship. Then he was our guy racing in the Grands Prix, in the 125cc, the 250cc, then he did some races in America and then came to the WorldSBK paddock. He’s got such a unique style the way he slides the bike into the corner. Great to watch, hard to race because he’s really late on the brakes. He’s difficult to pass, he had some great years battling with Jonny for the WorldSBK Championship. I think he can be proud of what he’s achieved in the game and it’s been a pleasure to share the track with him. “

Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) looked up to Davies when he first arrived in the Aruba Ducati family. He said: “Chaz, for me, was like a big brother because I arrived in the Aruba Junior Team and he helped me a lot, he was fun and kind to me, so a great person first of all and a very strong rider, very strong braker that always impressed us.”

Relive Davies’ best moments from an illustrious WorldSBK career using the WorldSBK VideoPass!