The Portuguese track provided a real game of two halves for round 10 of the WSBK Championship.

Saturdays race (1) saw Chaz starting on the grid in 9^th however he made his way up the peleton extremely quickly, snatching five positions in just a few corners.

Chaz held second place for much of the race until the chequered flag, securing his fifth podium finish of 2017.

"...Rea has been on another level here so far, but I felt pretty confident about our pace going into the race. We got off to a good start..."

We were all hoping for more of the same in race 2, which Chaz provided until he unexpectedly went down with just 3 laps left to go. Our hearts sank and waited with bated breath for Chaz's response.

"It's disappointing to finish the race like that because we've missed an easy podium...but towards the end I relaxed a little and closed the throttle a bit earlier than usual going into turn 2, which ended up loading the front too much, and I went down. I was surprised because it's a strange place to crash, especially when you feel like you're cruising...Looking at the positive, we've closed in to second position in the championship..."

After 10 rounds the Welshman has racked up 296 points putting him firmly in third place and just 15pts from second. Chaz will be chomping-at-the-bit in round 11 Magny Cours, France, where we'll see the return of Tom Sykes following his misfortunate crash in the Portimao free practice session.

Not long to wait for the next round that's taking place in just two weeks' time (29^th Sep - 1^st Oct), a date that's firmly in our diaries.