Source: Supplied.

Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing Ducati) made a statement of intent with the fastest time on day one of the Motul Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) at Laguna Seca, returning to action after his Misano injuries with a 1m23.425s time in FP1 to put him ahead of his rivals.

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) was second quickest thanks to a 1m23.436s lap in FP2, with Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing Ducati) third on the combined timesheets with his best time of 1m23.778s coming in the afternoon session.

It was a strong showing from Davies on his return to action after thumb and back injuries sustained at Misano, which had kept him out of race two at the last round.

Milwaukee Aprilia’s Eugene Laverty showed good pace to lap fourth best, his fastest time also coming from FP1, like that of Davies.

In fifth place was Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), just ahead of Xavi Fores (BARNI Racing Team). Rounding out the top 10 and therefore going straight into Tissot Superpole 2 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca were Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team), Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) and Alex De Angelis (Pedercini Racing SC-Project).

The red flag came out early in the FP2 session after a crash for Stefan Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) at the top of the corkscrew, whilst there were also crashes for Laverty, Lowes, Torres and Raffaele de Rosa (Althea BMW Racing Team) in the afternoon run.

Earlier in the day Davies’ rapid FP1 time saw him lead that session by a significant 0.673s margin ahead of second best rider Laverty, with Melandri in third place.