Chaz Davies

Template:Short description Template:EngvarB Chaz Richard Page Davies (born 10 February 1987) is a Welsh motorcycle racer primarily known for his career in the Superbike World Championship, where he finished three times as runner-up. In 2024, Davies was confirmed as a rider in the MotoE World Championship, an electrically powered race series.

He was 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

File:Chaz Davies - 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed.jpg

Chaz Davies at the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed

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.

From 2015, Davies rode for the Aruba.it Ducati team. Davies announced his retirement from regular competition in September 2021.

Post Superbike Career

From 2022, Davies was a rider-coach working with Ducati and Feel Racing, mentoring Alvaro Bautista and Michael Ruben Rinaldi in World Superbikes and Nicolo Bulega in Ducati's inaugural World Supersport season, riding the Panigale V-twin.

Davies intended to compete in the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race but was ill. He entered the 2023 event on an ERC Endurance Ducati with David Checa and Philipp Öttl, finishing fifth.

In 2024, Davies was confirmed as a rider in the MotoE World Championship, an electrically powered race series using Ducati series-specified machines.

Career statistics

All-time statistics

Series	Years	Races	Poles	Podiums	Wins	2nd place	3rd place	Fastest Laps	Titles
125cc	2002	15	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
250cc	2003–2006	55	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
AMA Formula Xtreme	2006–2008	22	0	4	1	0	3	0	0
AMA Supersport Championship	2006–2008	22	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
MotoGP	2007	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
AMA Pro Daytona SportBike	2009	20	0	2	0	2	0	0	0
World Supersport Championship	2009–2011	28	1	12	6	1	5	1	1
World Superbike Championship	2012–2020	237	7	98	32	37	29	36	0
MotoE World Championship	2024	16	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total		418	8	116	39	40	37	37	1

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pos	Pts
2002	125cc	Aprilia	JPN 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			29th	5
2003	250cc	Aprilia	JPN 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			14th	33
2004	250cc	Aprilia	RSA 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			13th	51
2005	250cc	Aprilia	SPA 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			16th	32
2006	250cc	Aprilia	SPA 13	QAT 17	TUR Ret	CHN 17	FRA Ret	ITA	CAT	NED											32nd	3
		Honda									GBR Ret	GER	CZE	MAL	AUS	JPN	POR	VAL 21
2007	MotoGP	Ducati	QAT	SPA	TUR	CHN	FRA	ITA	CAT	GBR	NED	GER	USA 16	CZE	SMR	POR	JPN	AUS Ret	MAL 17	VAL DNS	NC	0
2024	MotoE	Ducati	POR1 9	POR2 15	FRA1 13	FRA2 12	CAT1 Ret	CAT2 14	ITA1 14	ITA2 16	NED1 9	NED2 Ret	GER1 14	GER2 16	AUT1 13	AUT2 14	RSM1 15	RSM2 15			17th	35

AMA Formula Xtreme

Races by year

(key)

Year	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos	Pts
2006	Yamaha	DAY	BAR	FON	INF	RAM	MIL	LAG	M-O	VIR	RAT	M-O 8	45th	23
2007	Yamaha	DAY 4	BAR Ret	FON 4	INF 28	RAM 15	MIL 3	LAG 6	M-O 3	VIR 6	RAT 6	LAG 6	6th	206
2008	Kawasaki	DAY 1	BAR 3	FON 5	INF 27	MIL Ret	RAM 6	M-O 4	VIR 6	RAT 5	LAG 5		5th	224

AMA Supersport Championship

Races by year

(key)

Year	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos	Pts
2006	Yamaha	DAY	BAR	FON	INF	RAM	MIL	LAG	M-O	VIR	RAT	M-O 5	40th	26
2007	Yamaha	DAY 8	BAR Ret	FON 8	INF 4	RAM 7	MIL 9	LAG Ret	M-O	VIR 6	RAT Ret	LAG Ret	13th	145
2008	Kawasaki	DAY 4	BAR 10	FON 8	INF 10	MIL 9	RAM 6	LAG 15	M-O 9	VIR 11	RAT 16	LAG 4	6th	239

AMA Pro Daytona SportBike

Races by year

(key)

Year	Bike	1	2		3		4		5		6		7	8		9		10		11		Pos	Pts
			R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
2009	Aprilia	DAY 7	FON 8	FON 7	RAT 5	RAT 6	BAR 28	BAR 4	INF 4	INF 31	RAM 39	RAM 8	LAG 2	M-O 5	M-O 7	HRT 4	HRT 36	VIR 36	VIR 30	N-J 2	N-J 29	9th	219

Supersport World Championship

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Pos	Pts
2009	Triumph	AUS	QAT	SPA	NED	ITA	RSA	USA	SMR	GBR	CZE	GER	ITA 4	FRA Ret	POR 7	20th	22
2010	Triumph	AUS 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		4th	153
2011	Yamaha	AUS 18	EUR 2	NED 1	ITA 1	SMR 6	SPA 1	CZE 3	GBR 1	GER 1	ITA Ret	FRA 6	POR 1			1st	206

Superbike World Championship

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Bike	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		13		14		Pos	Pts
		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
Template:SBK	Aprilia	AUS DNS	AUS DNS	ITA Ret	ITA 14	NED Ret	NED Ret	ITA C	ITA 12	EUR 12	EUR 7	USA 7	USA 4	SMR 6	SMR Ret	SPA 4	SPA 3	CZE 11	CZE 6	GBR 14	GBR 7	RUS Ret	RUS 3	GER 3	GER 1	POR DNS	POR Ret	FRA Ret	FRA 8	9th	164.5
Template:SBK	BMW	AUS 4	AUS 17	SPA 1	SPA 1	NED 7	NED 5	ITA 5	ITA Ret	GBR 8	GBR 6	POR 6	POR 5	ITA 6	ITA 5	RUS 2	RUS C	GBR 10	GBR Ret	GER 3	GER 1	TUR 8	TUR 6	USA 2	USA Ret	FRA Ret	FRA 5	SPA 7	SPA 5	5th	290
Template:SBK	Ducati	AUS 8	AUS 7	SPA 4	SPA Ret	NED 7	NED 8	ITA 2	ITA 2	GBR 5	GBR 5	MAL 4	MAL 8	ITA 4	ITA Ret	POR 18	POR 3	USA Ret	USA DNS	SPA 3	SPA 4	FRA Ret	FRA 9	QAT 7	QAT 5					6th	215
Template:SBK	Ducati	AUS 3	AUS 3	THA 11	THA 15	SPA 2	SPA 1	NED 2	NED 2	ITA DNS	ITA Ret	GBR 3	GBR 3	POR 3	POR 4	ITA 3	ITA 4	USA 1	USA 1	MAL 2	MAL 1	SPA 2	SPA 1	FRA 6	FRA 2	QAT 4	QAT 2			2nd	416
Template:SBK	Ducati	AUS 2	AUS 10	THA 4	THA 3	SPA 1	SPA 1	NED 2	NED 5	ITA 1	ITA 1	MAL 3	MAL 4	GBR Ret	GBR 3	ITA 4	ITA Ret	USA Ret	USA 3	GER 1	GER 6	FRA 1	FRA 1	SPA 1	SPA 1	QAT 1	QAT 1			3rd	445
Template:SBK	Ducati	AUS 2	AUS 2	THA 2	THA 6	ARA Ret	ARA 1	NED Ret	NED 3	ITA 1	ITA 1	GBR 8	GBR 3	ITA Ret	ITA DNS	USA 1	USA 3	GER 1	GER 1	POR 2	POR Ret	FRA 10	FRA 1	SPA 2	SPA 3	QAT 2	QAT 2			2nd	403
Template:SBK	Ducati	AUS 3	AUS Ret	THA 3	THA 1	ARA 2	ARA 1	NED 3	NED 5	ITA 2	ITA 2	GBR 8	GBR 5	CZE 8	CZE 3	USA 2	USA 2	ITA 2	ITA 4	POR 4	POR 4	FRA 5	FRA 2	ARG Ret	ARG 4	QAT 7	QAT C			2nd	356

Year	Bike	1			2			3			4			5			6			7			8			9			10			11			12			13			Pos	Pts
		R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2
Template:SBK	Ducati	AUS 10	AUS 10	AUS 7	THA 15	THA 8	THA Ret	SPA 3	SPA 4	SPA 3	NED 7	NED C	NED 5	ITA Ret	ITA 2	ITA C	SPA 7	SPA 10	SPA Ret	ITA 5	ITA 17	ITA 7	GBR 10	GBR 7	GBR 9	USA 2	USA 2	USA 1	POR 2	POR 10	POR 16	FRA Ret	FRA 4	FRA 4	ARG DNS	ARG 4	ARG 2	QAT 2	QAT 5	QAT 2	6th	294
Template:SBK	Ducati	AUS 8	AUS 13	AUS 5	SPA 4	SPA 5	SPA 2	POR 11	POR Ret	POR 4	SPA 2	SPA 5	SPA 2	SPA 3	SPA 5	SPA Ret	SPA 3	SPA 4	SPA 1	FRA 4	FRA 5	FRA 3	POR 2	POR 4	POR 1																3rd	273
Template:SBK	Ducati	SPA 5	SPA 4	SPA 19	POR 6	POR 9	POR 2	ITA NC	ITA Ret	ITA Ret	GBR 11	GBR 8	GBR 7	NED 9	NED 9	NED 4	CZE Ret	CZE 14	CZE 12	SPA Ret	SPA 7	SPA Ret	FRA 7	FRA 8	FRA 5	SPA 10	SPA Ret	SPA DNS	SPA	SPA	SPA	POR	POR	POR	ARG 12	ARG 13	ARG 9	INA 8	INA C	INA 12	12th	143

External links

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