Davies slams Melandri for ‘d***head move’

Chaz Davies didn’t hold back when expressing his opinion of the clash between himself and Marco Melandri that led to both riders crashing out of the final World Superbike race in Jerez.

The pair were disputing fourth place during the final race of the weekend when the GRT Yamaha rider’s ambitious attempt to pass up the inside of the long turn five right-hander instead led to a heavy side-on impact with Davies, bringing them both down.

The FIM Stewards Panel would later sanction Melandri for ‘causing the crash of another rider’, handing him a six-place grid drop for the next WorldSBK round at Misano, albeit only in the shorter Superpole Race.

For Davies – who partnered Melandri at Aruba.it Ducati in 2017 and 2018 – he is disappointed a rider of his experience and calibre would attempt to pass there.

“I was bang on line, I have watched the video, watched my line, watched Toprak [Razgatlioglu]’s line, it’s the same bit of Tarmac,” he told reporters after the race, but before the decision of the Panel.

“There is a chance the Yamaha is maybe a little bit sharper at that point in the track, but I am making excuses for him here, he should know better than anyone here with his experience that at one point you come back to the kerb at that apex of the corner, which is very late. That was the first I even knew he was there. I just got to the kerb and he hit me on the inside.

“I have never seen anyone try and pass there on a GP bike or a Superbike, it just doesn’t happen. It was ridiculous to even try – it is the move I’d expect of a 20-year-old, not a 37-year-old World Champion.

“Marco being Marco, he won’t apologise, it’ll be my fault for whatever reason…”

Insisting he is lucky to only be limping away from the crash having become wedged between the two bikes across the gravel trap, Davies says he’d have understood to an extent had the incident happened earlier in the turn.

“This was just a stupid idea from him. If he passed me on the entrance of that corner like I did to him [earlier in the race] and took us both wide, or he touched me and we crashed, I wouldn’t be happy but he’d have tried to pass me at a normal place. He should know that was never going to work.

“[I’ve had a] Big impact on the hip and the side of my leg. I was more worried about hands in wheels because I was on top of my bike and underneath his. I couldn’t get away from anything.

“F***ing d**khead move.”

The incident concluded a miserable weekend for the Welshman, who struggled for pace throughout, even if he’d looked on course for a stronger end having worked his way into the top five during race two. Instead, he leaves Spain with a seventh and tenth place finish, dropping him to seventh overall behind Razgatlioglu.