CHAZ Davies stepped up his preparations for the ninth round of the World Superbike Championships (WSBK) this week.

The Presteigne ace tested on the EuroSpeedway Lausitz track this week ahead of returning to the German track for the WSBK ninth round on August 18.

The Aruba.it Racing-Ducati team held a two day test on the German track together with several other teams from the production based series.

Davies and team-mate Marco Melandri tried several setup configurations, getting a head start with the work before the official sessions begin.

Meanwhile wet weather sessions allowed Davies and Melandri to clock miles in wet conditions, which had rarely been possible thus far this season.

Davies said: “It was a good test overall. On the first day we didn’t really stay within our usual window, and we experimented a bit. So, I was looking forward to this morning, to get back to what we know and gauge our level more in depth.

“We still have room for improvement but I'm happy with the way the Panigale R felt in its more usual setup. We did some important work.

“We had a good list of things to try and I think we learned something interesting. Also, it was important to lap in the wet, as I think we improved the setup for those conditions, so I’m really happy with that.

“Physically I’m OK, I just felt a little back ache on the first day, like in Laguna Seca, but it wasn’t an issue. Now we’ll take some time off to recharge ahead of the next challenge.”

Davies currently stands in third place in the championship with 226 points and trails second placed Tom Sykes and championship leader Jonathan Rea on 341 points.