Herefordshire rider Chaz Davies finishes third in Brno

Chaz Davies has recorded three podium finishes so far this season

Chaz Davies was delighted with his third place in the Czech Republic round of the World Supersport Championship as he had to nurse the bike home.

Davies said his BE-1 Triumph Racing bike developed an oil leak that ended his hopes of victory.

"I was riding round for the last eight laps thinking 'This is going to hurt' and 'When's it coming?' but it didn't.

"It only takes a little bit of oil to have the rear step round on you and that's it," he said.

After a difficult opening practice session in Brno, Davies and his team of mechanics made some key adjustments to his bike and reaped the rewards as the weekend went on.

"This was my first time back in the Czech Republic since 2005 so I had to re-learn the track while it was a completely different bike as well so there were certain things I had to learn about it," he told BBC Hereford and Worcester.

I was worried because I thought the oil would be getting on the rear tyre and that was a big worry

Chaz Davies

"We started heading in the right direction on Saturday morning after a really tough session on the Friday.

"The team did a really good job studying the data quite a bit just to see if they could help in the areas where I was struggling.

"Then on Saturday afternoon it all started to click into place and it all went on from there," he added.

Davies felt he was in with a good chance of a first win of the season and admitted the oil leak that ended his chances could not have come at a worse time.

"It was looking really good and I had just done the fastest lap of the race again - I think I did it on the second lap and then again on lap 10," he said.

"I had just started closing the gap on the front two and had got it down to about 0.8 of a second.

"Then I started to feel my foot slipping off the foot peg and I couldn't really understand what it was but it started getting worse to the point where I was having to go two seconds per lap slower.

"Then I was worried because I thought the oil would be getting on the rear tyre and that was a big worry.

"It is crashes like that that will catch you out and they hurt because you don't expect them."

Davies lies in fourth place in the World Supersport Championship riders' table and will be looking to close the gap on those above him in the next race at Silverstone on Sunday, 1 August.