Chaz Davies - Photo Credit: WSBK
Chaz Davies has completed a sensational year by winning the BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year Award. The Presteigne rider saw off competition from 400m hurdles world champion Dai Greene, WBO light heavyweight boxing champion Nathan Cleverly, ITU World Triathlon champion Helen Jenkins and Paralympic athlete Nathan Stephens to win the award, voted for by the public.
The 24 year old was surprised to receive the honour and told BBC Wales of his delight to even be nominated for the award.
“I'm shocked! It's unbelievable, I can't get my head around it! It's something I've worked towards for many years now. I've had an up and down career but this year it all came together in a fantastic way. I finally had the bike and the support of a team which equalled the effort I've put in for so many years so to win the championship and top the year off with this is unbelievable.”
“I'm honestly shocked, just to get a nomination in the first place. Motorcycling is not the biggest sport and we're going up against a lot of talented sports people in Wales in this current era so to win is something I definitely didn't think would happen. I want to thank BBC Wales and everybody for voting and with it being a people's vote, it's pretty overwhelming.”
Davies won the 2011 World Supersport Championship with victories at Assen, Monza, Aragon, Silverstone, the Nurburgring and Portimao along the way, eventually clinching the title with a race to spare.
His success earned him a World Superbike ride for the 2012 season where he will compete for the ParkinGO Ducati squad and Davies is looking forward to the challenge.
“It's a big step up and it's going to be a big challenge so I've got a lot to learn but at the end of the day, it's got a set of handlebars and two wheels so we sort of know what we're doing! We'll keep going, keep learning and see what we come up with at the end of next year.”
