Chaz Davies charged through the field to salvage a fifth place finish in the second World Superbikes race at Donington Park.

The Powys-born rider had dropped to 12th after being forced wide on the opening lap of the 23-lap race at the Leicestershire track.

But Davies, who had finished eighth in the first race on Saturday, fought his way into fifthdespite a difficult weekend for his Ducati team.

The 31-year-old is still second in the standings 64 points behind reigning three-time champ Jonathan Rea who finished third.

Michael van der Mark won to complete a Donington double having become the first Dutch rdier to win in World Superbikes in the first race.

Davies said: “Today was definitely an improvement since Race 1, though our goal is to finish higher.

“I felt like I rode a good race overall. When the first drops of rain started to fall, I was fully committed to keep it wide open but there wasn’t enough rain to worry the guys in front of us.

“I did everything that I could to close the gap from the front, and to some extent I did, but we’ve been struggling a bit too much here.

“I had to use a little bit of tire to bridge the gap and we couldn’t do better today.

“Hopefully we can build on what we’ve done here and learn important lessons to apply in Brno.”

The next round is in the Czech Republic on June 8-10.

Davies 2018 Results

Rd 1: Australia (Phillip Island) Qualified: 5th
Race 1: 3rd Race 2: DNF (crash)
Championship Position: 7th – 16 points (1st Marco Melandri 50points)

Rd 2: Thailand (Buriram) Qual: 9th
Race 1: 3rd Race 2: 1st
Champ Pos: 4th – 57 pts (1st Jonathan Rea – 69pts)

Rd 3; Aragon (spain) Qual: 11th
Race 1 (Restarted) 2nd Race 2: 1st
Champ Pos: 2nd – 102 pts (1st Rea – 114pts)

Rd 4: Dutch (Assen) Qual: 8th
Race 1: 3rd Race 2: 5th
Champ Pos: 2nd – 129 pts (1st Rea – 159pts)

Rd 5: Italian (Imola) Qual: 3rd.
Race 1: 4th Race 2: 2nd
Champ Pos: 2nd 162 pts (1st Rea – 209pts)

Rd 6: GB (Donington Park) Qual: 10th
Race 1: 8th Race 2: 5th
Champ Pos: 2nd 181 pts (1st Rea – 245pts)