Source: Supplied.

Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Chaz Davies finished second in both races at Phillip Island to open his 2017 Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) season.

Davies marginally missed out on victory in both races – 0.042s on Saturday and 0.025s on Sunday – after going down to the wire with world champion Jonathan Rea.

“Today’s race was a bit more difficult to manage, given the hotter conditions,” he reflected. “The glass is half full though, without a doubt. We tried something different but we lost a a couple of bike lengths here and there and we just couldn’t pass Rea before the finish line.

“When you look at the full picture, this is a really positive result. It would be easy to be disappointed because we barely missed two wins, but historically this has never been a favorite circuit for me and sometimes I lost precious points here, so two second places are a good building block for the rest of the season.”

Davies was joined on the second race podium by Aruba.it Ducati teammate Marco Melandri, who finished third in his return to competition following over a year out.