Chaz Davies is confident of going even quicker after setting the World Superbikes pace in practice in California.

The Knighton-born rider was just ten-tenths-of-a-second shy of the Laguna Seca track record as he clocked a time of one minute 23.622 secs.

Davies claimed his maiden double win on his Ducati Panigale R bike last year and will be hopeful of more success this weekend.

The 29-year-old set the pace from title pacesetter Jonathan Rea who he trails by 99 points in the standings.

Honda’s American rider Nicky Hayden was third fastest from Rea’s Kawasaki team-mate Tom Sykes.

Davies had been just a few thousands off the top spot in first practice before going even quicker in second practice.

He said: “We got off a good start.

“Being the quickest on Friday is always positive, but Saturday and Sunday are more important.

“We managed to find a good pace since the very first lap, and there’s still room for improvement, especially in terms of the overall balance of the bike.

“We’ll put on a fresher engine for tomorrow and probably we won’t need to change the setup too much for FP3 and Superpole, even though it will depend on track temperatures, which in the morning can drop quite a bit.”