Chaz Davies battled to a podium spot on Sunday to end a difficult World Superbikes weekend at Donington Park.

The Powys-born flier finished third in the second race as Tom Sykes claimed his eighth win in a row on the Leicestershire track.

Davies had lost vital track time on Friday when his Ducati bike caught fire in practice and had crashed out in the first race on Saturday.

But he recovered to claim third in front of the home fans as Sykes triumphed from Kawasaki team-mate Jonathan Rea by 2.017secs.

Davies said: “It’s a positive to be back on the podium though the weekend has not gone as we’d have expected.

“I knew the race would be difficult if Tom got away at the start and I just did not have the pace to match theirs.

“After the difficult times on Friday I have got to be reasonably happy with that, being on the podium at your home race is a good result.”

Davies, who finished just over four seconds adrift of the Huddersfield-born rider, slipped to third in the championships standings.

The 29-year-old is now six points behind Sykes as defending champ Rea extended his lead to 56 points.

Sykes lost the lead near the finish of the 23-lap race, but Rea immediately went wide at Goddards to hand the advantage back to his rival.

The 2013 champ, 30, said: “I’ve won three of the last four races now and have done what I came here to do and get the double.

“I had a few issues but it was the perfect weekend for me and I’m sure Jonathan will be disappointed because he had the package to win here