Chaz Davies

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chaz Davies (born 1987 in Presteigne, Powys, Wales) is a Welsh Grand Prix motorcycle racer

Davies started racing in the British British Mini Moto championship in 1995, moving up to Junior Road racing in 1999. In the same season he was given special dispensation at the age of 12 to take part in the Aprilia Challenge 125cc Championship. Davies finished 6th overall, and was the only rider to finish every race in a points scoring position. He set a new lap record at Donington Park National circuit, and was awarded ‘Superteen of the Year’. He stayed with the series for a second year, and was runner up in the championship

In 2001 Davies moved to the British 125 Championship, placing seventh after completing 8 of 13 rounds. Davies was the youngest ever winner of a British Championship race in July at Thruxton at the age of 14 years 5 months. Davies also contested all rounds of the Spanish National 125 Championship with the Telefonica Movistar team under the management of Alberto Puig. Nominated for BBC "Young Sports Personality of the Year"

In 2002 management company Dorna Sports place Chaz with Team Matteoni Racing to compete in the 125cc Grand Prix World Championship riding a kit Aprilia. Davies became the youngest rider ever to compete in a full season of GP Motorcycle racing

From 2003, Davies rode for Aprilia Germany on the back of the consistent performance in his 125cc 'Rookie' season. In 2003 he became the youngest ever rider ever to score World Championship points in the 250cc class finishing 15th place in the Gauloises Africa's Grand Prix. For the 2004 season, still the youngest rider by two years, Davies finished 13th in the 250cc World Championship Classification out of the 36 regular starters scoring three top 10, head turning results in the final three races of the season. Davies finished 2004 with a series of outstanding results on what was a customer kit level of bike, far inferior to those of the factory teams. He finished 9th in Malaysia, 6th in Australia and then backed it up with 5th at the final race in Valencia. Davies again signed for Aprilia Germany for 2005 in hope that Aprilia would provide him with factory material after his strong end to 2004. With two Top 10 results in Italy and Turkey, Davies again proved himself a consistent front runner within the non-factory machines but again failed to secure any type of factory backing. He finished the championship in 16th.

For the 2006 season, he was promised a semi-works Aprilia bike by the Campetella team, but this did not materialise after the team ran into serious sponsorship difficulties and Davies was forced to ride a series of privateer options. After Campetella replaced Davies for the Mugello round with a sponsored rider Franco Battaini due to financial difficulties, Davies secured a semi-works Honda ride for another team the 2006 British GP at Donington Park. He has since ridden a 600 cc Yamaha in the AMA Championship at Mid-Ohio; and has a 250 cc ride in the closing MotoGP race at Cheste, near Valencia.

In 2007, Davies will race in the AMA Supersport Championship and Formula X-Treme Championship, racing a Yamaha for the Celtic Racing team.^[1]