Davies “intent” on Laguna Seca comeback after crash

Davies, a frontrunner in the championship, was leading the Saturday race at Misano with three corners to go but fell while under pressure from championship leader Jonathan Rea.

Rea was following right behind and could not avoid Davies, his Kawasaki bike launched in the air after impacting against the Welshman.

Having sustained a fracture of the transverse process of the third lumbar vertebra and a contusion of the left thumb in the incident, Davies was forced to sit out the second race of the weekend.

But the Ducati rider, who was relieved not to suffer a bigger injury as he reckoned the incident “could have been a lot worse”, now appears increasingly likely to return for next round of the championship – the July 7-9 meeting at Laguna Seca – after meeting with a specialist on Monday.

A statement, released by his team on social media on Monday, read: “Chaz Davies was examined by specialist Doc. Catani with positive feedback.

“He will now have ongoing physiotherapy treatment with the intent – and likelihood – to race at Laguna Seca.

"Further physical evaluation [is] to be conducted before round eight.”

Davies sits third in the World Superbikes riders' standings, having slipped to 111 points off championship leader Rea with 12 races to go in the season.

He's had mixed results at Laguna Seca over the course of his Superbikes career, but did sweep the round with two victories in 2015.