Davies ready ‘to walk away from motorcycle racing’ following final WorldSBK race
Chaz Davies has officially retired from motorcycle racing after completing his final WorldSBK races of the 2021 campaign.
What should have been a triple-header in Indonesia quickly turned into a double feature race weekend - as was the case in Jerez, albeit for very different reasons.
In Jerez it was due to the sad passing of Dean Berta Vinales in an earlier WorldSSP300 race, which therefore led to an end of racing on that particular Saturday - as a result meaning WorldSBK’s opening race was pushed to Sunday and replaced the Superpole race.
This happened once again in Mandalika, however, it was extreme weather that caused race one to initially be delayed, before ultimately being postponed to Sunday.
For Davies, 2021 has been an up-and-down season as he’s managed to take just one podium which came in the shape of a second place in race three at Estoril.
That’s Davies’ worst return since joining WorldSBK in 2012 with Aprilia as he’d never recorded anything less than four podiums in a single season previously.
Of course, it must be stated the Welshman has been affected by injury throughout the season which also led to missing several rounds.
But even so, Davies managed to claim a respectable eighth place in Sunday’s dry race one at Mandalika, before a wet race two proved more difficult. The GoEleven Ducati rider missed out on a second top ten after finishing 12th.
Speaking after his final race in motorcycle racing, Davies alluded to hoping for another strong result, however the lengthy delay left him feeling less than 100% ready.
Davies added: "It was good to race here in Mandalika, the first race I was quite happy with, I felt Ok on the bike and I was quite fast especially at the beginning of the race, I was catching the front group.
"Then when the track dried I lost a bit, but I was happy with P8. Then the second race, in the rain here there is really high grip, but I felt a bit strange during the race to be honest. I was really motivated to try to finish well, but after the delay I didn't feel particularly normal.
"Maybe it's to be expected, I try to tell myself a few times: ‘Just enjoy it’, but anyway it's like this. Definitively the first race is the highlight of the weekend.
"Just thanks to everybody for the support, to the guys, to the Team Go Eleven for supporting me so much this year, bringing me in like a family. It has been a difficult season, but I really enjoy the time in the garage and myself in general.
"Now I take the next step in life, which is to walk away from motorcycle racing. It has been a great career and looking back it means satisfaction.
"I wish the maximum respect to all my competitors, congratulations to Toprak [Razgatlioglu] for the championship, he did such an amazing job this season, and to Yamaha also. I hope to be back here in future, but obviously not on the bike!"
