Davies set for steady approach on injury return

Chaz Davies is eager for a ‘step by step’ mentality to the Portimao World Superbike round on his return from a collarbone fracture sustained last month in a training off.

The Aruba.it Racing Ducati rider has endured an eventful summer break having suffered two near-identical collarbone injuries at the start and at the end of the mid-season pause.

After taking part in the recent Portimao in-season test, Davies sustained his second setback while training at Aragon with a partial separation of his right collarbone. His Ducati squad announced he would not need to undergo a second surgery, having had treatment following his collarbone break in July, but has been completing strict rehabilitation and strength training in order to return to full fitness ahead of the Portuguese round this weekend.

“The collarbone injury was just not ideal, but I felt progress during these days, which is the most important thing,” Davies said.” We're going to see how Friday goes and then take it step by step, without rushing things too much early on.

“I'm pretty sure I'll be OK once I step on the Panigale R, but we need to make sure we build our way into the round and avoid potential bumps on the road before the actual races.”

With a chance to refocus on racing for the first time since early July, Davies is aiming to pick up on the progress gained from the Portimao test and regain his momentum from the races before the summer break when he took four podiums from last five races.

“The test was okay, but track conditions should be cooler this weekend so things can change quite a bit in terms of setup and feeling,” he said. “We left the test with a good direction so we just need to step back on the bike and keep working.”

Davies remains second in the World Superbike riders’ championship, 92 points off leader Jonathan Rea, and 30 points ahead of Michael van der Mark in third place.