Chaz Davies


Chaz Davies, is a British motorcycle racer. He is the 2011 World Supersport champion and also the 2011 BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year.

Career

Early career

Davies started racing in the British Mini Moto championship in 1995, moving up to Junior Road racing in 1999. In the same season he was given special dispensation at the age of 12 to take part in the Aprilia Challenge 125cc Championship. Davies finished 6th overall, and was the only rider to finish every race in a points scoring position. He set a new lap record at Donington Park National circuit, and was awarded 'Superteen of the Year'. He stayed with the series for a second year, and was runner up in the championship.
In 2001 Davies moved to the British 125 Championship, placing seventh after completing 8 of 13 rounds. Davies was the youngest winner of a British Championship race in July at Thruxton at the age of 14 years 5 months. Davies also contested all rounds of the Spanish National 125 Championship with the Telefonica Movistar team under the management of Alberto Puig. He was nominated for BBC "Young Sports Personality of the Year."
In 2002 management company Dorna Sports placed Chaz with Team Matteoni Racing to compete in the 125cc Grand Prix World Championship riding a kit Aprilia. Davies became the youngest rider to compete in a full season of GP Motorcycle racing.
From 2003, Davies rode for Aprilia Germany on the back of the consistent performance in his 125cc 'Rookie' season. In 2003 he became the youngest rider to score World Championship points in the 250cc class finishing 15th place in the Gauloises Africa's Grand Prix. For the 2004 season, still the youngest rider by two years, Davies finished 13th in the 250cc World Championship Classification out of the 36 regular starters scoring three top 10 results in the final three races of the season. Davies finished 2004 with a series of outstanding results on what was a customer kit level of bike, far inferior to those of the factory teams. He finished 9th in Malaysia, 6th in Australia and then backed it up with 5th at the final race in Valencia.
Davies again signed for Aprilia Germany for 2005 in hope that Aprilia would provide him with factory material after his strong end to 2004. With two Top 10 results in Italy and Turkey, Davies again proved himself a consistent front runner within the non-factory machines but again failed to secure any type of factory backing. He finished the championship in 16th.
For the 2006 season, he was promised a semi-works Aprilia bike by the Campetella team, but this did not materialise after the team ran into serious sponsorship difficulties and Davies was forced to ride a series of privateer options. After Campetella replaced Davies for the Mugello round with a sponsored rider Franco Battaini due to financial difficulties, Davies secured a semi-works Honda ride for another team the 2006 British GP at Donington Park. He then rode a 600 cc Yamaha in the AMA Championship at Mid-Ohio; then finished out the season with a 250 cc ride at the closing Grand Prix of the year at Cheste, near Valencia.

AMA

In 2007, Davies raced in the AMA Supersport Championship and Formula X-Treme Championship, racing a Yamaha for the Celtic Racing team. In 2008 he rode a Kawasaki for Attack Kawasaki. In early December 2007 Davies set the fastest times in two classes while testing at Daytona for the upcoming opening race of the 2008 AMA season. He was named winner of the 2008 Daytona 200 after original race winner, Josh Hayes, was disqualified for an illegal crankshaft. Davies becomes the first racer from the United Kingdom to win the prestigious race.
For 2009 Davies signed with KWS Aprilia to run in the all-new AMA Daytona Sportbike series, finishing the season with moderate success.

MotoGP World Championship

In 2007 he made his MotoGP debut, at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for Pramac d'Antin Ducati, riding a Desmosedici GP7 in replacement for the injured Alex Hofmann, who crashed in first practice. Already there for the supporting AMA round, Davies took over on an unfamiliar bike and track. Despite setting solid laptimes, he was overlooked for the following event at Brno, with Iván Silva replacing Hofmann.
On 28 September 2007 it was announced that Chaz Davies would replace Alex Hoffmann at the D'Antin squad for the final three rounds of the 2007 season. After failing to score in Phillip Island and Sepang, Davies was forced to pull out of the final race of the season in Valencia due to hand and wrist injuries sustained during the qualifying and practice sessions. Davies was offered a full-time testing role with Ducati for 2008, but he turned it down in favour of a return to AMA.

Supersport World Championship

Davies made a switch to World Supersport late in the 2009 season for Triumph, remaining with them for 2010. He was consistently their fastest rider, scoring podium finishes at Valencia, Kyalami and Brno. After his Brno success, team manager Guiliano Rovelli commented "He is a tough bloke who always gives 110% and is now the best rider in Supersport". He came agonisingly close to a first class win at Imola – suffering a fuel pump failure while running third, just as leaders Kenan Sofuoglu and Eugene Laverty collided.
2011 saw Davies team switch to Yamaha machinery. After a disappointing start to his championship campaign with a puncture at the first race, Davies scored 8 podiums with 6 wins on his way to securing the 2011 World Supersport Title.

Superbike World Championship

In 2012 Davies moved to the World Superbike championship to join ParkinGO MTC Racing Aprilia. After a highly impressive debut season he finished 9th overall with 4 podium finishes, including 1 win.
For the 2013 season Davies moved to the factory BMW Motorrad Goldbet team.
For 2015 Davies rode for the Aruba.it Ducati team.

Career statistics

All-time statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

Races by year

YearClassBike123456789101112131415161718PosPts
2002125ccApriliaJPN
Ret		RSA
21		SPA
24		FRA
18		ITA
18		CAT
Ret		NED
24		GBR
16		GER
20		CZE
DNS		POR
11		BRA
29		PAC
24		MAL
25		AUS
22		VAL
28		29th5
2003250ccApriliaJPN
18		RSA
15		SPA
18		FRA
Ret		ITA
13		CAT
Ret		NED
24		GBR
13		GER
12		CZE
14		POR
20		BRA
9		PAC
11		MAL
12		AUS
15		VAL
13		14th33
2004250ccApriliaRSA
Ret		SPA
Ret		FRA
12		ITA
17		CAT
13		NED
15		BRA
13		GER
12		GBR
Ret		CZE
8		POR
16		JPN
Ret		QAT
16		MAL
9		AUS
6		VAL
5		13th51
2005250ccApriliaSPA
11		POR
Ret		CHN
Ret		FRA
12		ITA
10		CAT
Ret		NED
14		GBR
Ret		GER
Ret		CZE
Ret		JPN
Ret		MAL
12		QAT
16		AUS
11		TUR
10		VAL
16		16th32
2006250ccApriliaSPA
13		QAT
17		TUR
Ret		CHN
17		FRA
Ret		ITACATNED32nd3
2006250ccHondaGBR
Ret		GERCZEMALAUSJPNPORVAL
21		32nd3
2007MotoGPDucatiQATSPATURCHNFRAITACATGBRNEDGERUSA
16		CZESMRPORJPNAUS
Ret		MAL
17		VAL
DNS		NC0

AMA Formula Xtreme

Races by year

YearBike1234567891011PosPts
2006YamahaDAY
BAR
FON
INF
RAM
MIL
LAG
M-O
VIR
RAT
M-O
8		45th23
2007YamahaDAY
4		BAR
Ret		FON
4		INF
28		RAM
15		MIL
3		LAG
6		M-O
3		VIR
6		RAT
6		LAG
6		6th206
2008KawasakiDAY
1		BAR
3		FON
5		INF
27		MIL
Ret		RAM
6		M-O
4		VIR
6		RAT
5		LAG
5		5th224

AMA Supersport Championship

Races by year

YearBike1234567891011PosPts
2006YamahaDAY
BAR
FON
INF
RAM
MIL
LAG
M-O
VIR
RAT
M-O
5		40th26
2007YamahaDAY
8		BAR
Ret		FON
8		INF
4		RAM
7		MIL
9		LAG
Ret		M-O
VIR
6		RAT
Ret		LAG
Ret		13th145
2008KawasakiDAY
4		BAR
10		FON
8		INF
10		MIL
9		RAM
6		LAG
15		M-O
9		VIR
11		RAT
16		LAG
4		6th239

AMA Pro Daytona SportBike

Races by year

Supersport World Championship

Races by year

YearBike1234567891011121314PosPts
2009TriumphAUSQATSPANEDITARSAUSASMRGBRCZEGERITA
4		FRA
Ret		POR
7		20th22
2010TriumphAUS
12		POR
4		SPA
3		NED
4		ITA
7		RSA
3		USA
4		SMR
4		CZE
3		GBR
4		GER
5		ITA
Ret		FRA
3		4th153
2011YamahaAUS
18		EUR
2		NED
1		ITA
1		SMR
6		SPA
1		CZE
3		GBR
1		GER
1		ITA
Ret		FRA
6		POR
1		1st206

Superbike World Championship

Races by year