Chaz Davies made his return to testing at Jerez at good pace, despite still recovering from injuries sustained in the early stages of the November 2017 tests at the circuit in Andalusia.
Having damaged his right knee badly enough to miss all the rest of that test, he is still not quite back to his absolute physical best even near the end of January 2018.
Inside the top lap times on day one of the tests, however, Davies said, “I am not too bad and I would say I am 90%. I had the knee checked a few times after the crash and they wanted to put me on crutches and a brace but it really did not want to go on crutches. With that sort of injury to the MCL (a cruciate ligament in his right knee: ed) and without being on crutches you risk setting it back. The ACL and LCL were also stretched because of the way the joint came into itself, but it is getting there. The first couple of laps out on track on Tuesday morning I felt it, but it then it seemed to ease off a little bit. I have been riding Supermoto but you are nowhere near that sort of tucked position on a racebike. That is what has been hard. I have got most of my range back in the knee joint but I cannot get it completely closed. So I have not been riding motocross because of that. But it has repaired and the ultrasound scan saw that. I have also had some dramas with my shoulder and wrist, which have been a bit ‘sticky.’ It was a ‘good’ one, a real crash, and it has taken longer than I thought to feel decent. I was hoping at least to be riding motocross by ten days ago, but I did not want to take that risk. It is all about building towards PI, so I am not stressing about where I am at the minute. It is quite nice to be able to work this stuff through on the bike and be able to feel some changes.”
On the machinery side, the lack of that last Jerez test cost Davies valuable laps evaluating new developments, but he has already been making up for it.
“I did not even do the last full day of the last tests at Jerez, so we still have stuff to test,” said Davies. “I felt like today was actually quite productive. We got two introductions on day one, which I think will be good in the long run. Right now there is a little bit of set-up needed. Early impressions are quite good. We are not setting the world alight and I am still working myself back to full fitness. So I am quite happy.”
Davies, Jerez WSBK test, January 2018