Defending 2008 Daytona 200 winner Chaz Davies brings a wealth of experience and racing success to the KWS Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies team.
The 21-year-old Welshman started his career at an early age, competing in his first mini-moto race at age seven. In the years since, Davies has gone on to become one of the brightest young stars in the international racing community, most recently winning the 2008 Daytona 200 as well as 6th place finishes in the 2008 AMA Formula Xtreme Series and AMA Supersport Series. Davies has a long history with Aprilia. As a 12-year-old, he was given special permission to compete in the 1999 Aprilia Challenge 125cc Championship. His impressive performance earned Davies a spot on Team Matteoni Racing Aprilia in 2002. There he competed in the 125cc Grand Prix World Championship, which earned him the honor of the youngest rider ever to complete a full MotoGP season.
Davies continued to race Aprilia bikes in the 125cc and 250cc Grand Prix championships before moving to the AMA Supersport and Formula X-Treme classes in 2007 and 2008. America has been good to Davies, as he has been able to score two poles, three podiums and a race win in his two years in AMA racing.
“I am very excited about this season. I have ridden Aprilias in MotoGP and I know what Aprilia can do when they decide to go racing,” says Davies. “And, there’s no better way to start the season than under the lights at Daytona.”
“Chaz isn’t just a fierce competitor, he has played an integral role in developing the Aprilia RSV1000R for Daytona Sportbike competiton,” says team owner Kevin Hunt. “His experience on the world’s toughest race circuits is huge asset to our team.”
Equally enthusiastic is team manager Chip Spalding. “I think we have an all-around champion-ship caliber team with Chaz and Ben Thompson. Chaz has already proven his desire and commitment to getting on the podium with last year’s performance – all of us at KWS are here to support him and Ben in getting there as many times as possible this season.”