Former 125cc and 250cc Grand Prix racer Chaz Davies has contracted to race for the Celtic Racing team in the 2007 AMA Supersport and Formula Extreme championships aboard the team’s Yamaha R6 racebikes.
Davies is only 19 years old, but the young Briton is already a veteran racer. Starting off in British Mini Moto Junior racing in 1995, Chaz took a host of wins at the Junior level before moving up to contest the Aprilia Challenge 125cc championship in 1999. Despite being the youngest rider ever to compete in the series (age 12 in 1999), Davies quickly made his mark, finishing 6th overall in 1999 and taking the runner-up position in 2000. At age 14, Davies became the youngest ever winner of a British 125cc championship race when he won at Thruxton in 2001, and he took another win at Donington later that year.
Davies moved to world-level racing in 2002, racing 125s for one season before moving to the 250cc class in 2003. Although he showed great potential over the last few years in 250cc Grand Prix racing, the lack of a competitive ride kept Davies from battling for podium positions, and after his 2006 season ended abruptly due to a lack of funds on the part of the Campetella racing team, Davies began to look for altenative venues to display his talent. European media quoted the youngster as saying he felt too big for the two-stroke 250s and was eager to try his hand at production-based four-stroke racing.
He got his chance aboard the Celtic Racing R6 at the season-ending Mid-Ohio round of the AMA Supersport championship last year, and despite never having ridden a four-stroke before and visiting Mid-Ohio for the first time, Davies gave an impressive performance, keeping pace with 2006 Supersport champion Jamie Hacking and beating other series stalwarts on his way to taking fifth place.
With that kind of four-stroke debut, it’s no surprise that Celtic Racing has signed Davies to ride the full 2007 season. If his performance at Mid-Ohio is any indication, Chaz Davies could be the best AMA rookie we’ve seen in years.
