CHAZ Davies lost ground on the leading pack in a disappointing weekend at Domington Park.

The Presteigne star arrived at the iconic Leicestershire track confident of closing the gap on World Superbike Championship (WSBK) leader Jon Rea despite a poor record on the track.

Instead Davies endured a frustrating weekend in the sixth round of the championship and failed to claim a podium finish in either race.

Davies crossed the line in eighth spot in race one having struggled for pace on his Aruba.it Racing Ducati until a late surge saw him climb the field.

Davies mounted a furious comeback after being penalised in the traffic at the start of race two and climbed from 12th to fifth with a spectacular series of overtaking manoeuvres.

Davies said: “Day two was definitely an improvement since the opening day though our goal was to finish higher. I felt like I rode a good race overall.

“When the first drops of rain started to fall, I was fully committed to keep it wide open but there wasn’t enough rain to worry the guys in front of us.

“I did everything that I could to close the gap from the front, and to some extent I did as the race wore on, but we struggled a bit too much.

“I had to use a little bit of tire to bridge the gap and we couldn’t do better.

“Hopefully we can build on what we’ve done and learn important lessons to apply in Brno.”

Davies and the rest of the stars of WSBK head to Czech Republic and Brno for the seventh round on June 10 before embarking across the Atlantic for Laguna Seca in America on June 10.

Despite his Donington disappointment the Welshman remains second in the championship, 64 points behind Kawasaki’s Jon Rea and 18 points clear of Yamaha’s Mike Van der Mark and Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes in joint third with 163 points.