In his latest report on
Crash.net, rising 250 GP star Chaz Davies reviews the sixteenth and final round of the 2004 world championship; the Valencia Grand Prix, which saw the 17-year-old continue his incredible end of season form by equalling his best qualifying position - then defeating factory riders Roberto Rolfo and Fonsi Nieto on his way to a best ever fifth place finish in the race...
"After coming home from all the fly away races I had a week at home before we were to fly out to the last race of the year in Valencia. After coming from places with such good weather such as Qatar, Malaysia and Australia it was totally depressing sat inside the house watching it rain for 5 days straight!
"From the moment we got home on Tuesday afternoon until the following Sunday the rain didn't stop. Over the weekend before the Valencia GP we had the final round of the British Minimoto Championship (MMRA) at our go kart circuit. The weather was pretty miserable for them until Sunday where it was half wet, half dry.
"On Sunday I went to watch the Weston Beach Race for the first time. I didn't really know what to expect, having never been before, but it was really good. This year they had a strong line up of top Motocross riders like Travis Pastrana, Stefan Everts, Jamie Dobb and Kenny Bartram so that was all the more reason to go and watch to see how quick these people are in the sand.
"I'd seen Everts and Dobb ride before but I really wanted to see Pastrana because he's pretty damn good, but I was gutted, because very early on the first lap another rider crashed in front of him coming off a jump so he had to slow up and then somebody from behind jumped onto his wrist and broke it. And also Dobb broke his shoulder quite early on so that was two of the top runners out. Everts made it look very easy. He was very smooth and you could see he was always making sure to pick the right line so he didn't get stuck in any of the ruts.
