Chaz Davies described his Friday running at Assen as the best he’s ever enjoyed at the Dutch circuit after setting the pace in free practice today.
The Welshman, who claimed the first ever SBK win for the Ducati Panigale R last weekend, was three tenths clear of Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes, and believes one or two minor adjustments will give him the package to challenge for more success this weekend.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had such a positive Friday at Assen, also because I’ve always had a bit of trouble at this track results-wise. At this point I think we have a good base set-up; here we’ve started with what we were using at Aragon and we’ve only had to make a few small changes so far. We’ve tried a few different things and in the final stages of the session I was able to put in a fast lap. Despite the result, I’m still losing in the final sector so we’ll try to improve in that area tomorrow as well as continuing our preparations for Sunday’s races.”
Teammate Xavi Fores was ninth fastest, putting him under pressure to secure a place in Superpole 2, but Spaniard is unconcerned and expects to pull clear of danger in tomorrow morning’s final practice session.
“Although we’ve been able to improve a little today we’re not yet there in terms of set-up. As it’s the first time I’m riding at Assen with this bike I guess we need some time to get everything sorted. The bike has been moving around a lot and this means I can’t ride as I would like; it is preventing me from putting a clean lap together. But we will continue to work this evening to understand the direction to take in the next sessions – tomorrow’s a new day and I’m sure we’ll be able to improve.”
