Chaz Davies was lucky to escape without injury after crashing out while leading the World Superbikes race in Spain.

The Knighton-born rider had had a fierce duel with title pacesetter Jonathan Rea when he went down with two laps left at Aragon.

Davies was briefly caught under his Ducati but eased himself clear but was clearly frustrated at the result.

The 30-year-old had won three of the past four races at the track and would have been looking to extend that record after snatching pole with a new track record of one minute 49.319 seconds.

Davies said: “After having missed FP1, we knew we were a bit behind in figuring things out so I just wanted to do my race.

“I was trying to keep Rea at bay, passing him each time I had the opportunity to do so.

“But with five laps to go I started to feel that the bike was a bit more nervous and harder to manage in corner entry, and the weight was coming on and off the front.

“That’s what happened in the last corner, it locked without much warning and I lost the front.

“I was lucky to escape without injuries. Tomorrow we’ll try to get a good start and see if we can make our way to the front again. We want to win races”.

Ernesto Marinelli, Superbike Project Director, added: “After such a close, thrilling race, certainly we didn’t get the result we were hoping for.

“It’s a pity that Chaz crashed, it leaves a bitter taste in our mouths after such a generous performance on his behalf.”

Rea went on to win by four seconds from Davies’ Ducati team-mate Marco Melandri with Tom Sykes third on the other Kawasaki.

The result saw Davies slip to third in the standings eight points behind Sykes and 55 adrift of Rea – who has won all five races – ahead of Sunday’s second race.

Rea said: “I made the strongest race I could do. Chaz was strong in areas where I was not, and I was strong in areas where he was not, so it was a case of me learning a lot in the race.

“The stopping performance, direction change and grip conservation of the bike was really good and I felt I still had a tyre to fight with at the end, but in the middle section of the track, where Chaz was just in the front, I could not maximise any time to try to go away out front.

“The only thing I could do in that race was ride shotgun and put as much pressure on as I could and wait for a mistake.

“The door opened up a few times because Chaz missed a few apexes but finally he went down in the penultimate lap.

“First of all I hope Chaz is OK but for me it was a perfect opportunity to win another race.

“It was going to be very difficult to win a last lap battle with him in that last sector where he was so strong. It is a crash-gifted win but I will take it because I felt I rode well.”