Chaz Davies is ready for another World Superbikes scrap in Thailand on Saturday after posing the fourth fastest time in opening practice.

The Knighton-born rider clocked a best time of one minute 33.895secs on the Buriram track just behind Aruba.it Racing Ducati team-mate Marco Melandri.

Reigning two-tie champion Jonathan Rea posted the fastest time just ahead of Kawasaki team-mate Tom Sykes.

Davies finished second to Rea in both races at the opening round in Australia last month so is second in the early title standings.

The 30-year-old said: “Today we’ve been working on our program to get the bike in the ballpark, building our confidence progressively.

“It looks like we’re all quite evenly matched in the four top positions.

“It’s the first time here that the track actually allows us to attack from the very first laps.

“We’ve made good steps forward in between sessions, but there’s still a couple of areas in which to improve, especially the third sector.

“We need to find one or two tenths there, but our pace is quite competitive nonetheless. I did my best lap on used tyres this afternoon, so overall it’s been a good first day.”

Davies improved his time in the second free practice session where he was third quickest and finished just 43 thousandths of a second behind Melandri.