Alvaro Bautista :: A Bati Fan Blog For The Aspar Aprilia 250cc MotoGP Rider

Any Alvaro Bautista fan who fancies getting their work out on the web, and who fancies a cute little golden '19' pin badge, should go over to BatiFans.com and check out our latest competition...

We're going to be affiliating with some official MotoGP riders websites/forums and as part of this there will be a 'button' exchange - we will have little graphic buttons somewhere on our pages and so will the other forums.
So - the competition is to design a small, very groovy, graphic button (100 pixels wide by 35 pixels deep) featuring a pic of Alvaro (action? portrait? up to you...) which may be graphically treated in any way and which also features the words "Alvaro Bautista". Any BatiFans.com forum member can enter.

The winner will get a very cool, very rare, little metal '19' badge pin which looks great in a jacket or shirt.
There's a topic with further details here...
Good luck if you plan on entering :)
Closing date is 12/01/08

Well; this is really just a kind of very general, off-topic post to say a Happy Christmas to all the other Bati fans out there.
Obviously there's not really much in the way of direct news about Alvaro right now, so I'm not doing much updating on the blog.
That's not to say I'm not online or doing Bati-related things; we'll definitely be keeping up the chat over at BatiFans.com - The Alvaro Bautista Fan Forum - especially now stv21's back from the USA and I'm back from a quick and heavenly hot break in west Africa.

I got back to London at 4am on Saturday and following a frenzy of unpacking and re-packing came up to Lincolnshire yesterday on a very chilly, very early morning journey through freezing fog, to spend Xmas with my folks.
My MotoGP season review DVD has arrived so I'm looking forward to sitting down at watching that, although I'd really have liked to get the 250cc/125cc review first.
So a few days up here, and getting used to the cold again - then back to London inn time for new year.

So that's it really... Have a great Christmas - and let me be the first to give you a quick festive snog under the mistletoe which I've conveniently and sneakily hung at the top of this post. No tongues though... lol :)
Happy 2008 to you, and for Alvaro of course, who I'm dying to follow through another great season. Can't wait for it all to start again!

Cheers,
gb

Right - well I'm off to sunny, hot, fab Gambia for a week before Christmas hits us.
If you want any breaking Bati news, or MotoGP chat in general then go to the Alvaro Bautista Fan Forum at BatiFans.com where all our special Christmas downloads - wallpapers, icons, videos and pictures - are already online; special treats for special fans of the very special Alvaro Bautista :)

If you're a Bati fan, then you should get over to our Alvaro Bautista Fan Site & Forum as we've got some really cool Christmas prezzies coming up in the next few days for our members.
Can't really say much more that that, or it'll spoil the surprise :)

Go check out the videoclips posted by GaSa34 on Youtube for some cool clips of some of MotoGP's nice guys (and in lower classes too, not only the main MotoGP class, but also 250 and 125).
There's short documentaries (in Spanish) from a series called 'Historias sobre ruedas' on riders such as Andrea Dovizioso, Hector Barbera, both Aleix and Pol Espargaro and Aspar's 125 squad newbie for 2008, Pere Tutusaus (who's in the clip above)....

Another goodie for you... this one, all modesty aside, really is pretty special...
It's our 2008 BatiCal - a superb A4 sized PDF calendar, absolutely stuffed with awesome pictures of Alvaro on and off the bike and also chocca with all the useful MotoGP dates for 2008 too; it's indispensable and it's all you'll need to keep an eye on those crucial dates.
It looks great printed out onto glossy paper and bound as a "real" desktop calendar; alternatively you can just download it to your PC or Mac desktop and keep it there for whenever you need it.
Click here for full info and download...

Enjoy :)

I've done a desktop wallpaper to try and capture some of the coolest images of Alvaro across the year. It's ended up being a kind of photographer's "lightbox" with film strips containing different pictures...
It's available in two sizes:

1 - standard 1280x1024 - CLICK HERE

2 - widescreen 1280x800 - CLICK HERE

Enjoy :)
And if you want loads more goodies like this then come join us at the BatiFans.com Fan Forum where we have loads more... and bundles of exclusives downloads and goodies for our biggest fans.

Okay so this is a day late really... (sorry I was busy)... but here's the timesheets form Wednesday's testing at Jerez.
Birthday Boy came in second, and with an excellent looking time. :)

250cc:
1.-Mika Kallio (KTM) 1.44.213
2.-A. Bautista (Aprilia) 1.44.380
3.-H. Faubel (Aprilia) 1.44.604
4.-M. Pasini (Aprilia) 1.44.791
5..-J. Simón (KTM) 1.44.999
6.-H. Barbera (Aprilia) 1.45.124
7.-H. Aoyama (KTM) 1.45.135
8.-L. Pesek (Aprilia) 1.45.236
9.-T. Luthi (Aprilia) 1.45.270
10.-R. Locatelli (Gilera) 1.45.497
11.-K. Abraham (Aprilia) 1.45.530
12.-I. Toth (Aprilia) 1.46.249
13.-M. Poggiali (Aprilia) 1.46.359
14.-A. Baldolini (Aprilia) 1.46.451
15.-F. Sandi (Aprilia) 1.47.794
16.-R. Cardús (Aprilia) 1.49.119

125cc:
1.-Sergio Gadea (Aprilia) 1.47.782
2.-Sandro Cortese (Aprilia) 1.48.254
3.-B. Smith (Aprilia) 1.48.457
4..-S. Corsi (Aprilia) 1.48.584
5.-G. Talmacsi (Aprilia) 1.48.642
6.-E. Rabat (KTM) 1.49.148
7.-M. Di Meglio (Derbi) 1.49.217
8.-D. Aegerter (Derbi) 1.50.863

Er.... that's it really.... Happy Birthday Alvaro ("feliz cumpleanos")

Have a great day, and a great year, and loads more.
gb

Bati was eventually classed 4th on day one (19_11_07) of the Jerez test, attended by both 250 and 125 teams.
He had an off during the day - apparently some kind of coming together with Julian Simon - but still pulled in very respectable times and position.

Here's the timesheets in full...

250cc:
1.-H. Aoyama (KTM) 1.44.330
2.-M. Kallio (KTM) 1.44.702
3.-H. Barbera (Aprilia) 144.711
4.-A. Bautista (Aprilia) 1.44.796
5.-H. Faubel (Aprilia) 1.45.013
6.-T. Luthi (Aprilia) 1.45.183
7.-K. Abraham (Aprilia) 1.45.313
8.-R. Locatelli (Gilera) 1.45.852
9.-J. Simón (KTM) 1.46.022
10.-L. Pesek (Aprilia) 1.46.352
11.-I. Toth (Aprilia) 1.46.817
12.-F. Sandi (Aprilia) 1.49.088
13.-Ricky Cardús (Aprilia) 1.49.740
14.-A.Baldolini (Aprilia) 1.53.612

125cc:
1.-Gabor Talmacsi (Aprilia) 1.47.907
2.-Sergio Gadea (Aprilia) 1.48.453
3.-Simone Corsi (Aprilia) 1.48.656
4.-M. di Meglio (Derbi)
5.-Esteve Rabat (KTM) 1.49.159
6.-Sandro Cortese (Aprilia) 1.49.633
7.-Pablo Nieto (KTM) 1.50.408
8.-D. Aegerter (Derbi) 1.51.688

Testing continues Tuesday and Wednesday; according to circuit notes Alvaro is present all days...

I've set up a Frappr Map - mainly for forum members, but anyone's welcome really...
Just plonk a pin in the map to show where you are and to show just how far and wide Alvaro's fanbase goes...
Frappr's not as good as it used to be; in their "refinements" and "improvements" they've actually made things less intuitive and less smart / flexible - but it's still a good way of mapping a community such as ours :)

The link is www.frappr.com/batifans

And here is a little embedded version anyway...

Come and join us on the map, and join us on the forum :)

Woohooh!
The book's arrived :)
Couple of weird things - like some 'squashed' proportion pictures, but basically a lovely picture based book, nice glossy stock in a hardback cover; and a dead nice presentation overall with lots of familiar pics and some unseen ones too.
First impressions - very good :)
Many more impressions to come, I'm sure, as I root through it a few more times.

Basically - very happy :)

Big congrats to Alvaro on getting the FIM MotoGP Award for ROOKIE OF THE YEAR - 250cc - an excellent end to a less than perfect weekend, but also to a superb season overall.

Great to see it's not just us fans who've noticed :)
Congratulations fella!

It would be easy to feel a bit down about today’s race; Bati binning it whilst in a great 2nd position and a fine chance of finishing the season with a 1st.
(So easy in fact, that I’d admit to being a tad down about it myself...)

Nonetheless, whilst it’s easy to dwell on single results - especially at a season end where you’re in danger of remembering little else for the next few weeks - it’s far more healthy, and correct, to take a moment like now to put things in perspective:

Alvaro has performed brilliantly as a 250cc rookie. It’s his maiden season, and he took his first victory at six races in at Mugello. Not only was it a victory but it was a spectacular victory, filled with totally balls-out racing and a nerve-shredding last lap passing Lorenzo (who flung himself into some gravel in disgust) and de Angelis.
And amidst plenty of podiums he took a second victory at Estoril where he made up for a scrappy start by heroically carving through the field and simply heading off into the distance ahead of Lorenzo and Dovizioso.
He’s wound up 4th in the overall championship with a very creditable 181 points, and such a strong first season - and the evidence of our own eyes of how beautifully he rides and how passionately he races - suggests that next season will be even better.

Shit happens sometimes. As it did today. But do what Alvaro does; keep a smile on your face; cos he’s given us a brilliant season’s worth of excitement, and he’ll do it again in 2008.

Have a good rest and a good off-season Bati :)

And all you Bati fans out there - get over to our BatiFans.com Alvaro Bautista Fan Forum where we’ll be all winter till the next season comes. Come and chat with other fans, and join in with our fun and comeptitions; including some with excellent Bati prizes...

Big downer that it's the last GP of the season, but go see it out in style by following all the action with Toby and Julian on Eurosport...
Here's the weekend's coverage:

Friday, 2 Nov 2007
7:00pm - 8:30pm (1 Hour 30 minutes)
Eurosport (British Eurosport)
Valencia Grand Prix: MotoGP Practice

__________________________________________________

Saturday, 3 Nov 2007
11:00am - 11:30am (30 minutes)
Eurosport (British Eurosport)
Valencia Grand Prix: MotoGP Practice

Saturday, 3 Nov 2007
11:30am - 12:00pm (30 minutes)
Eurosport (British Eurosport)
Valencia Grand Prix: Introduction

Saturday, 3 Nov 2007
12:00pm - 12:45pm (45 minutes)
Eurosport (British Eurosport)
Valencia Grand Prix: 125cc Qualifying

Saturday, 3 Nov 2007
12:45pm - 2:00pm (1 Hour 15 minutes)
Eurosport (British Eurosport)
Valencia Grand Prix: MotoGP Qualifying

Saturday, 3 Nov 2007
2:00pm - 3:00pm (1 Hour )
Eurosport (British Eurosport)
Valencia Grand Prix: 250cc Qualifying

Saturday, 3 Nov 2007
6:10pm - 7:00pm (50 minutes)
Eurosport (British Eurosport)
Valencia Grand Prix: MotoGP Qualifying

Saturday, 3 Nov 2007
9:45pm - 11:30pm (1 Hour 45 minutes)
Eurosport (British Eurosport)
Valencia Grand Prix: MotoGP Qualifying

__________________________________________________

Sunday, 4 Nov 2007
8:00am - 8:45am (45 minutes)
Eurosport (British Eurosport)
Valencia Grand Prix: MotoGP Qualifying

Sunday, 4 Nov 2007
9:15am - 9:45am (30 minutes)
Eurosport (British Eurosport)
Valencia Grand Prix: Introduction

Sunday, 4 Nov 2007
9:45am - 11:00am (1 Hour 15 minutes)
Eurosport (British Eurosport)
Valencia Grand Prix: 125cc Race

Sunday, 4 Nov 2007
11:00am - 12:15pm (1 Hour 15 minutes)
Eurosport (British Eurosport)
Valencia Grand Prix: 250cc Race

Sunday, 4 Nov 2007
12:15pm - 2:15pm (2 Hours )
Eurosport (British Eurosport)
Valencia Grand Prix: MotoGP Race

Just a very cool pic from back in 2005; one of many being shared in our "Random Bati Pics From The Web" thread over at BatiFans.com - the Alvaro Bautista Fan Chat Forum, although you'll need to sign up to see them all.
But what better excuse do you want to join in and chat with other Alvaro fans from around the world and help give our guy all the support he deserves... :)

In case you didn't already know about it, there is a limited edition biography (and I'm reckoning it's going to be *very* limited and that it's also going to become very desirable / collectable) coming out at the end of October.
It's published by a small company in Alvaro's hometown of Talavera de la Reina, and is a Spanish language book.
Only costs €20 - very reasonable - and it sounds to be packed with photos across its 108 pages.
Sales inquiries need to go to canseco07@terra.es and we have a topic on our Fan Forum about it, if you need more advice on contacting the publishers, and on ordering and paying for a copy.

I've designed a second pack of Alvaro Bautista icons for you; based around his number 19 symbol.
They're done in a variety of ways and colour schemes, and are ideal for pimping your folders, drives and even the dullest of documents.
They're available for Mac OSX and Windows XP, and you can download them here...

Well - ups and downs really.
The crucial thing is the 'down' - Alvaro dropping out of a brilliant fighting race where he was easily going to be on the podium (I'd have said 2nd) when his bike failed on lap 6 of the Malaysian 250cc GP at Sepang.
The race saw plenty of other good scrapping though, and of course also saw J-Lo seal his title bid.

The upside was this...

...The splendid Toby Moody not only plugging us again on Eurosport (is it just my imagination or does he mention us more often than he mentions the Eurosport website???) but also apparently pimping the site to Alvaro himself! Stars, the both of them :)

Anyway, for completeness, here's the results in full...

CLASSIFIED:

Pos | Rider | Make | Time
1. Hiroshi Aoyama KTM 43:09.316
2. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 2.251
3. Jorge Lorenzo Aprilia + 2.957
4. Mika Kallio KTM + 2.965
5. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 7.305
6. Julian Simon Honda + 8.747
7. R. Locatelli Gilera + 16.105
8. Marco Simoncelli Gilera + 26.101
9. Yuki Takahashi Honda + 28.032
10. Aleix Espargaro Aprilia + 34.754
11. Andrea Dovizioso Honda + 35.888
12. Karel Abraham Aprilia + 42.514
13. Shuhei Aoyama Honda + 48.020
14. Alex Baldolini Aprilia + 48.058
15. Dirk Heidolf Aprilia + 49.190
16. R. Wilairot Honda + 49.273
17. Eugene Laverty Honda + 53.468
18. Taro Sekiguchi Aprilia +1:02.665
19. Jules Cluzel Aprilia +1:15.625
20. Fabrizio Lai Aprilia +1:17.024
21. Imre Toth Aprilia +1:32.646

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

Rider | Make | Laps
Federico Sandi Aprilia 17
Doni Tata Yamaha 16
Alex de Angelis Aprilia 10
Efren Vazquez Aprilia 9
Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 6

Interesting stuff quoted on Alvaro's official site and at TVE...

“Hopefully we can announce something in Valencia,” said Jorge Martinez, who has already taken years designing that what will be his star piece and to continue it hangs on the signature of the company of Kevin Schwantz, connected also with Suzuki, to try to get bikes supplied by the Japanese company.
“Things are pretty advanced and from now on our objective is to be with Suzuki and have Schwantz as our sporting director. We want to bikes and have asked for two, but it could also be that the 2009 project will start with only one. We are being evaluated by Suzuki to see if they will give us one or two motors,” concluded Aspar, whose intention is to put this to Bautista.
“Alvaro will race with a Suzuki in 2009 if everything goes to plan,” he stated.

Links:
Videoclip on TVE...
Article on alvarobautista.com....

Some excellent running from Alvaro today - spending most of it in P1.
Eventually down to third, but a very good result nonetheless, and judging by his comments he still has more to come form the bike if all goes well...

"The day has been quite positive. In the morning I had a good feeling in the rain, and I have tried to work a bit in the wet, because I have not had much experience of it in 250 this year...
We have worked hard with the bike, because it did not feel completely comfortable. In the end we have improved a little more, although it will be necessary to continue working because there were some things that are still not quite right for me... "

Here's the running order form Quali 1.

Pos | Rider | Make | Time
1. Jorge Lorenzo Aprilia 2:08.876
2. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 2:08.968 + 0.092
3. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 2:09.155 + 0.279
4. Thomas Luthi Aprilia 2:09.387 + 0.511
5. Mika Kallio KTM 2:09.647 + 0.771
6. Marco Simoncelli Gilera 2:09.732 + 0.856
7. Hiroshi Aoyama KTM 2:10.088 + 1.212
8. R.Locatelli Gilera 2:10.509 + 1.633
9. Julian Simon Honda 2:10.528 + 1.652
10. Hector Barbera Aprilia 2:10.696 + 1.820
11. Alex de Angelis Aprilia 2:10.856 + 1.980
12. Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 2:11.318 + 2.442
13. Yuki Takahashi Honda 2:11.335 + 2.459
14. R.Wilairot Honda 2:11.369 + 2.493
15. Shuhei Aoyama Honda 2:11.484 + 2.608
16. Karel Abraham Aprilia 2:11.642 + 2.766
17. Dirk Heidolf Aprilia 2:12.001 + 3.125
18. Jules Cluzel Aprilia 2:12.005 + 3.129
19. Fabrizio Lai Aprilia 2:12.513 + 3.637
20. Eugene Laverty Honda 2:12.647 + 3.771
21. Alex Baldolini Aprilia 2:12.846 + 3.970
22. Imre Toth Aprilia 2:13.241 + 4.365
23. Taro Sekiguchi Aprilia 2:13.505 + 4.629
24. Efren Vazquez Aprilia 2:14.011 + 5.135
25. Federico Sandi Aprilia 2:15.196 + 6.320
26. D.T.Pradita Yamaha 2:15.534 + 6.658

Awesome :)
Got it from: Totmoto

Early mornings again here in the UK this weekend if we want to catch all the live action from Sepang...

EUROSPORT MotoGP COVERAGE

Friday 19th October
6.00am - Live Practice 125cc
6.45am - Live Practice MotoGP
8.00am - Live Practice 250cc

Saturday 20th October
6.00am - Live Qualifying 125cc
6.45am - Live Qualifying MotoGP
8.00am - Live Qualifying 250cc

Sunday 21st October
4.45am - Live Race 125cc
6.00am - Live Race 250cc
7.15am - Live Race MotoGP
11.30am - MotoGP Race - Repeat
17.50pm - MotoGP Race - Repeat

Well, in a weekend when - let’s be honest - nobody was going to touch Lorenzo, Alvaro’s second place at the 250cc Australian GP at Philip Island was more than respectable.
His third place on the grid was excellent and his dicing throughout the race was superb to bring home some extra points for his season tally and yet another podium in his rookie 250 year. Awesome :)

Although to us, it merely looked exciting and an excellent fight, Bati clearly had a harder time of it than was really visible to us.
In some roughly (and probably poorly) translated words, here’s Alvaro’s take on how things went...
“It has been a difficult race... The conditions were very difficult, with a lot of wind.
Lorenzo just escaped and was it impossible to stay with him, so we concentrated on the fight for second position. That was my objective.
In the end I took second. The bike moved around a lot, and it became difficult to work with the wind. But I am happy, mainly because in this first year in 250cc I am feeling really good about it. I hope that this carries on in next the two races.”

& here is the classified results listing...
AUSTRALIAN MOTOGP 250CC GRAND PRIX, AUSTRALIA 14/10/07

Pos Rider Make Time
1. Jorge Lorenzo Aprilia 39:25.727
2. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia + 19.634
3. Andrea Dovizioso Honda + 19.724
4. Hiroshi Aoyama KTM + 19.797
5. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 20.066
6. Julian Simon Honda + 21.045
7. Marco Simoncelli Gilera + 32.960
8. Shuhei Aoyama Honda + 33.043
9. Alex de Angelis Aprilia + 33.051
10. Yuki Takahashi Honda + 44.814
11. R. Locatelli Gilera + 48.733
12. Jules Cluzel Aprilia + 54.010
13. Karel Abraham Aprilia +1:03.218
14. Aleix Espargaro Aprilia +1:09.368
15. Dirk Heidolf Aprilia +1:17.807
16. Eugene Laverty Honda +1:21.239
17. Fabrizio Lai Aprilia +1:31.245
18. Taro Sekiguchi Aprilia +1:33.575
19. R. Wilairot Honda +1:33.916
20. Federico Sandi Aprilia + 1 lap

Excellent news: Bati has wound up with 3rd spot on the grid for tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island in a session that saw Jorge Lorenzo basically untouchable out front, and a nasty looking fall for Roberto Locatelli; who thankfully seems okay.
The circuit is a good one for Alvaro, who of course clinched his 125cc championship title there last year. Hopefully he can work some magic again in the race tomorrow.

Here’s some of his words post-session...
“Again I am on the front row. I am very happy with that because I haven’t been on the front row since Holland, and mainly because I a am also feeling good about the bike.
We have been testing some things in the official practice and I have kept things which I liked, and have been able to go fast. The speed is not bad, although Lorenzo is perhaps a step ahead.
Tomorrow I will try to take advantage of the front row start, and I must to try to be ahead right from the beginning and to give all the fight I possibly can.”

Good luck for the race Bati! :)
Fans can follow and discuss all of the action by clicking here... where you’ll find news, stats, quotes, pics and of course the opinions of our forum members and fans.
Join in at BatiFans.com and support our guy and chat to other fans online...

For completeness here’s the top ten riders...

1. Lorenzo (Aprilia) 1:32.884
2. Barbera (Aprilia) +0.886secs
3. Bautista (Aprilia) +0.936secs (1:33.820)
4. de Angelis (Aprilia) +0.940secs
5. Simoncelli (Gilera) +0.970secs
6. H. Aoyama (KTM) +1.048secs
7. Dovizioso (Honda) +1.269secs
8. Luthi (Aprilia) +1.301secs
9. Simon (Honda) +1.415secs
10. S. Aoyama (Honda) +1.528secs

(*Above: Bati giving it some, out near the Siberia end of the track)

MOTOGP - 250CC - AUTRALIAN GRAND PRIX, PHILLIP ISLAND
1ST QUALIFYING, FRIDAY 12TH OCTOBER

Pos Rider Make Time
1. Jorge Lorenzo Aprilia 1:33.641
2. Hector Barbera Aprilia 1:34.358 + 0.717
3. Alex de Angelis Aprilia 1:34.820 + 1.179
4. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1:34.999 + 1.358
5. Marco Simoncelli Gilera 1:35.013 + 1.372
6. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 1:35.158 + 1.517
7. Hiroshi Aoyama KTM 1:35.311 + 1.670
8. Julian Simon Honda 1:35.333 + 1.692
9. Shuhei Aoyama Honda 1:35.674 + 2.033
10. Mika Kallio KTM 1:35.809 + 2.168
11. Thomas Luthi Aprilia 1:35.879 + 2.238
12. R. Locatelli Gilera 1:36.412 + 2.771
13. Yuki Takahashi Honda 1:37.115 + 3.474
14. Dirk Heidolf Aprilia 1:37.179 + 3.538
15. Jules Cluzel Aprilia 1:37.334 + 3.693
16. Imre Toth Aprilia 1:37.454 + 3.813
17. Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 1:37.819 + 4.178
18. Karel Abraham Aprilia 1:38.011 + 4.370
19. Fabrizio Lai Aprilia 1:38.075 + 4.434
20. R. Wilairot Honda 1:38.241 + 4.600
21. Alex Baldolini Aprilia 1:38.278 + 4.637
22. Efren Vazquez Aprilia 1:39.073 + 5.432
23. Taro Sekiguchi Aprilia 1:39.240 + 5.599
24. Federico Sandi Aprilia 1:39.976 + 6.335

Great start - let's see where tomorrow takes him... :)

_____________________________________________

BBC
Sunday 14 October
125cc, 250cc races live, - BBCi 0245-0515
MotoGP race live, - BBC ONE 0545-0700
Races re-run, - BBC ONE, 1300-1400

_____________________________________________

EUROSPORT
Friday 12 October
4.45am - Live MotoGP Practice
6.00am - Live 250cc Practice
6.45am - Live 125cc Practice

_____________________________________________

EUROSPORT
Saturday 13 October
4.45am - Live MotoGP Qualifying
6.00am - Live 250cc Qualifying
6.45am - Live 125cc Qualifying

_____________________________________________

EUROSPORT
Sunday 14 October
00.45am - Live Warm Up
2.45am - Live 125cc Race
4.00am - Live 250cc Race
5.15am - Live MotoGP Race
9.30am - MotoGP 'coverage' / highlights

_____________________________________________

Don't forget that BatiFans *always* recommend you tune in to Toby & Julian on Eurosport for maximum enjoyment :)

For a whole bunch of new Alvaro Bautista desktop wallpapers for your Mac or PC, pop on over to AlvaroBautista.co.uk - where, if you have the good sense to join the BatiFans.com Forum you'll be entitled to some extra special "Members Only" versions too...

Thanks to stv21 for finding this clip of the wonderful Toby Moody and Julian Ryder on the Eurosport TV channel raving about Alvaro post-race at Estoril and namechcking our website.
Cheers guys :)
We love you!

Many thanks to stv21 for pointing out that this is available from here... where you can also buy those older replica helmets too ;)

Just me bumbling around and searching for Alvaro Bautista goodies again, and I stumble onto something nice... According to the website of Swedish firm Mc-Boden AB, there appears to be a new line in Bati replica helmets; of his 2007 design.
I'd only previously traced some down old ones via a Spanish eBay page, but never been able to actually find one to *buy*....

They list it as the new Spyder III R. The article seemed to date from sometime around the Italian GP earlier this year, so I got looking some more, and - yes - they are listed on the NZi website - but still can't seem to find somewhere to buy one yet - Shame, as I'm sure one of them would look great on the shelves ;)
The search continues....

Congratulations; job well done :)

Not a great race sadly - Bati didn't do a great comeback like he did at Estoril - no, it really just didn't pick up at all at Motegi, with him never really comfortable on the bike and throwing it towards the end to wind up in 15th place. A great shame - but as he said, it was something fairly new in the wet with this bike. A shame he couldn't have done something better, but some weekends just don't come together.
Here's Alvaro's own words on the race...

"Things did not go well today. I couldn't brake hard, because the rear tyre was destroyed. Because of this I went straight (off through the gravel), because I had no grip, it slipped. It was impossible. Friday we worked well, Saturday too, in spite of falling... It's a new experience because we have never worked on a wet track before with this bike."

Here's the results anyway; let's hope for something a bit more sparkling come Phillip Island...
And what the hell - big congratulations to Mika Kallio on his first 250cc win :)

******************************************

CLASSIFIED:

Pos Rider Make Time
1. Mika Kallio KTM 48:28.585
2. Andrea Dovizioso Honda + 4.893
3. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 21.527
4. Yuki Takahashi Honda + 23.488
5. Alex de Angelis Aprilia + 25.378
6. Julian Simon Honda + 42.264
7. Marco Simoncelli Gilera + 48.782
8. Hiroshi Aoyama KTM + 57.782
9. Shuhei Aoyama Honda +1:09.049
10. Thomas Luthi Aprilia +1:10.837
11. Jorge Lorenzo Aprilia +1:13.035
12. Seijin Oikawa Yamaha +1:26.371
13. Jules Cluzel Aprilia +1:36.236
14. Youichi Ui Yamaha +1:47.098
15. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia +1:50.081
16. R. Locatelli Gilera +1:58.741
17. Aleix Espargaro Aprilia +2:06.782
18. Imre Toth Aprilia +2:10.415
19. Eugene Laverty Honda + 1 lap
20. Yuki Hamamoto Yamaha + 1 lap

******************************************

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

Rider Make On Lap
Dan Linfoot Aprilia 19
Fabrizio Lai Aprilia 17
Takumi Takahashi Honda 3
R. Wilairot Honda 2
Dirk Heidolf Aprilia 1
Karel Abraham Aprilia 0
Alex Baldolini Aprilia 0
Efren Vazquez Aprilia 0

Hmmm - not great practice / quali sessions from Bati sadly - he's starting back in 11th on the grid for tomorrow's 250cc Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi.
Here's his words (roughly translated by me and Babelfish...!)

“It has been a very bad practice, because I fell just after the beginning... that has forced to us to be a good while in the box, and it has been impossible to return to feeling comfortable on the bike... I fell at the worst moment and, with so just a short time of practice, it is difficult to return to the top, although we tried. The good thing is that in the morning it (the bike) had felt very good to me. I am starting too far back and that is going to force me to work hard to see if I can come back and get another good result. I will take it all calmly.”

Good luck tomorrow Bati - you stormed through the field at Estoril; maybe if you get that bike set up sweet 1st thing in the morning, you can do something similar again! :P

Well, according to the little widget on my MacBook, the TV scheduling for this weekend's Japanese MotoGP events is going to mean some pretty early mornings and some pretty strong cuppas...
Still - it may all be worth it: will Alvaro Bautista deliver another stunner of a ride in the 250cc like he did in Estoril? Will Casey Stoner wrap up the title in the top class? Will Rossi continue to be in the mix again?
You can find out by following the action on British Eurosport on Saturday and Sunday...

Japanese GP Coverage on British Eurosport

Saturday 22/09/07
125cc - Live Qualifying - 05.00
MotoGP - Live Qualifying - 05.45
250cc - Live Qualifying - 07.00
MotoGP - Qualifying (repeat) - 19.00

Sunday 23/09/07
125cc - Live Race - 02.45
250cc - Live Race - 04.00
MotoGP - Live Race - 05.15
250cc - Race (repeat) - 07.30
MotoGP - Race (repeat) - 08.00
MotoGP - Race (repeat) - 17.00

(*Above: me on the Chapman Stick... Ahem, er... Moshing...)

Good news is that the “Alvaro Bautista Campeón - www.BatiFans.com Fan Movie” posted up on Youtube is getting plenty of hits; well over a hundred in its first day - plus a few comments and stars...
Bad news is that I’m still a bit sulky that their compression has scrunched the first part of the movie (as well as the general overall hammering that you tend to expect). Anyway - it’s live and it’s loved... :)

One thing that was particularly crucial in doing the job right was doing the music right - I decided to write it myself rather than nick something from somewhere, and so I used some outtakes from old work by my band Smallcreep - most specifically some slow dirty guitar riffs by Rob (the Robster) Jenkinson, and pulled together the bass lines underneath with the Chapman Stick - an instrument I love using as a power-bass (largely because I’m not good enough to use it as a ‘complete’ instrument doing bass AND melody as some clever bastards do...)
Anyway, the method of tapping / thumping the strings - and dragging notes around makes for some excellent bass end textures, especially with some compression, EQ and chorus - and so with those in place, and with some further dirtying up of Rob’s guitarwork it was left to me and Garageband to pull the pieces together into a fast, driving piece that was going to have the right pace and vibe to edit against.

I’m really happy with the result, and if you liked what you heard on the movie and you want to download the MP3 of just the soundtrack then you can find it here...

Enjoy :)

I've finally got round to finishing "Alvaro Bautista Campeón" - our BatiFans.com video.
It's a 4:30 clipshow basically - a fast and funky edit to music that I've written and produced especially, using outtakes from old works by my band Smallcreep, reworked in Apple's fabulous Garageband app. My mate Rob (the Robster) Jenkinson does the guitar, I'm doing the big gloopy bass parts on the Chapman Stick, and the rest of it is smaples, loops and breakbeats all mashed up to fit with the main riff.

The video itself is largely derived from clips I found on a Spanish DVD I bought from eBay; a 50 minute documentary about Alvaro - and I've tried to use a really good mix of on and off-track footage. It was knocked up in Final Cut Express - and as it was my first time working with FC it's worth thanking Neil and Luke in particular for some incredibly useful tips and tricks.

As ever, Youtube has done a bit of a "scrunching" job on the footage, with some nasty bits of compression and totally wrecking the first few seconds.
Definitely go to www.alvarobautista.co.uk or www.batifans.com for the full high res quality version - and enjoy the full resolution 26Mb download; well worth it.
Nonetheless - please do give the Youtube one a few stars and a comment if you can, and do pass it on to other fans :)

Sunday really was a good day for us... Not only did Bati take Estoril by storm with a gobsmacking win in the MotoGP 250cc race, but Eurosport actually ended up namechecking our website.
In post race comments by the smashing Toby Moody and Julian Ryder, they were talking about how wide-ranging support for Alvaro Bautista is, and were talking about what a good reception he’d got at Donington.
Then Toby Moody (I think it was Toby Moody - I did go a little bit freaky for a second...) announced that there was now AlvaroBautista.co.uk for English speaking fans.

Whether he assumed that we were actually an ‘official’ site, or whether he had simply judged it to be a good site for Bati fans, I have no idea - but it was an excellent and unexpected moment. We exist for other fans and to have people of that calibre pointing them our way is brilliant.

Many thanks to our favourite commentators :)
We’ve mentioned you before on this blog (and on the BatiFans.com Fan Forum) but now you have truly entered our Hall of Fame!

Yahoo / Eurosport refers to "Brilliant Bautista" - saying that his victory today in Portugal was as good as the one that saw him win the 125cc race at the same circuit by 15 seconds a year ago.
Today's race saw the 22-year-old Spaniard carve his way through the field relentlessly to pass Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo at mid-distance.

"I started worse, no, more than worse, and I tried to push as hard as I could," said Bautista.
"When I passed a few I saw the podium near, but then when I was third I thought I must push some more because I saw Lorenzo and Dovizioso were not so far ahead.
"I tried to push more than 100 per cent to keep the distance and I'm just so happy to win this race. We've worked very hard in the team and this is for them."

After a mediocre start - dropping from 6th to 12 in the first lap, Alvaro carved through the field in a gobsmacking display of genius and guts to take victory at Estoril today, ahead of Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo.
Reports, quotes and pics to follow - but for now, Thank You Alvaro for giving us yet another stunning race :)
You are simply awesome!

Race results – Estoril:

1. Bautista (Aprilia)
2. Dovizioso (Honda) +4.367secs
3. Lorenzo (Aprilia) +6.148secs
4. Luthi (Aprilia) +12.685secs
5. Barbera (Aprilia) +13.411secs
6. de Angelis (Aprilia) +13.440secs
7. Simoncelli (Gilera) +13.322secs
8. Simon (Honda) +13.634secs
9. Lai (Aprilia) +1min 12.253secs
10. Abraham (Aprilia) +1min 12.319secs

The FIM has announced a couple of amends to the 2008 MotoGP calendar.
Portugal and Valencia are each pulled forward a week, whilst Japan and Australia swap dates.
The resulting changes look like this:

Rd 1 - March 9 - Qatar - Doha/Losail
Rd 2 - March 30 - Spain - Jerez de la Frontera
Rd 3 - April 13 - Portugal - Estoril
Rd 4 - May 4 - China - Shanghai
Rd 5 - May 18 - France - Le Mans
Rd 6 - June 1 - Italy - Mugello
Rd 7 - June 8 - Catalunya - Montmelo
Rd 8 - June 22 - Great Britain - Donington Park
Rd 9 - June 28 - Netherlands - Assen **
Rd 10 - July 13 - Germany - Sachsenring
Rd 11 - July 20 - United States - Laguna Seca *
Rd 12 - August 17 - Czech Republic - Brno
Rd 13 - August 31 - San Marino - Misano
Rd 14 - September 14 - Indianapolis - Indianapolis
Rd 15 - September 28 - Japan - Motegi
Rd 16 - October 5 - Australia - Phillip Island
Rd 17 - October 19 - Malaysia - Sepang
Rd 18 - October 26 - Valencia Ricardo Tormo - Valencia

(* Only MotoGP class ** Saturday)

(*Above: Jorge Martinez and Alvaro Bautista)

Great news - in Spanish at least! (full reports haven't crept out onto English speaking websites yet sadly) is that Alvaro Bautista has been confirmed by the Master Aspar Aprilia Team for 2008.
You can read their press release here...

Congrats Bati from all of us on the Fan Site - it's fantastic news :)

Another learning experience for Bati - a shame really, I was screaming when he went off on lap 10, whilst in 3rd, up from 6th on the grid - a real "Noooooooooo!!!" moment - he was so completely on the case and up for a podium it was immensely frustrating - but he still put in an excellent job to pull back a bunch of places to finish up 8th.
Shame that it could have been another podium though. :(

Still, very good to watch, and I hope he's even more up for it come Estoril...

Here's the final standings for the race:
1. Jorge Lorenzo Aprilia 42:54.427
2. Hiroshi Aoyama KTM + 3.578
3. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 7.041
4. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 7.213
5. Alex de Angelis Aprilia + 7.664
6. Shuhei Aoyama Honda + 36.234
7. R.Locatelli Gilera + 36.918
8. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia + 36.936
9. Yuki Takahashi Honda + 37.142
10. Julian Simon Honda + 40.293
11. Jules Cluzel Aprilia + 51.72
12. Aleix Espargaro Aprilia + 56.62
13. R.Wilairot Honda +1:00.060
14. Karel Abraham Aprilia +1:01.500
15. Eugene Laverty Honda +1:09.950
16. Efren Vazquez Aprilia +1:10.059
17. Imre Toth Aprilia + 1 lap
18. Omar Menghi Aprilia + 1 lap

That leaves Bati 4th in the overall championship standings.

You can get your hands on some excellent new wallpapers by joining up at the BatiFans.com Alvaro Bautista Fan Forum - where 2 new "XIX" designs (roman numerals for '19' as per his tattoo) are available in both standard and widescreen formats in the "Members Only" area. (*As shown in the thumbnails above)
There is also video available for registered members, and many more downloads and goodies wil be added over time.

The new forum is primarily for Alvaro Bautista fans, though we'd love to see anybody who loves MotoGP in general of course, and hopefully we can build up a great community of like-minded fans of the sport and its best riders. (And one in particular...)

If you want these exclusive wallpapers, and want to get lined up for other downloads - and to chat with other Bati / MotoGP fans then sign up now. Click here...

Right...
Time to explain what the surprise is...
Basically there seemed to be a huge gaping hole in the WWW where there should be a proper full-on Fan Forum for supporters of Alvaro Bautista who are 'international' / non-Spanish speaking.
Whilst he (obviously) has a decent Spanish presence, it seemed wrong that he should at this stage still not have a *forum* dedicated to him for fans worldwide.
So, alvarobautista.co.uk and stv21 have had a good old think and agreed to work together to do two things:
Phase 1 - launch BatiFans.com - The Alvaro Bautista Fan Forum; a php based forum / bulletin board that's easy to join, and is divided up into sections covering Alvaro, his season, other MotoGP stuff and Bati-related topics.
Phase 2 - expand alvarobautista.co.uk into a fuller, deeper information site.
Basically we now both run both the sites together.

Phase 2 will have to wait till the off-season, but Phase 1, the launch of the forum is now done, and open for fans to sign up. It also has led to a change in the overall site header, which now takes in the forum, the fan shop, the blogs of both me and stv21, and the e-cards.

It's easy to join up and join in, and we hope that we can - with the help of other Bati fans - grow a big friendly forum that will become THE place for fans the world over.
Come and join us - or if you know others who would be interested, then point them to us ;)

Click here to go to BatiFans.com - The Alvaro Bautista Fan Forum...

A quick teaser to tell you that there's something very special coming for Alvaro Bautista fans very soon...
AlvaroBautista.co.uk and stv21 are about to launch a collaborative project that will hopefully fill in the gap for all Bati's international fans.
Whilst there's obviously a Spanish-speaking site there's not really any comparable venue for those of us who don't speak Spanish.
We're sure that Alvaro has plenty of fans across the world who we could deliver a better web presence to, so we look forward to revealing something very special next week.
Watch this space!

Although it's a few weeks back now, you may want to go look at the blog of stv21 - a serious Bati fan over at la sonrisa de talavera which now has full postings covering a two day visit to the Sachsenring for the German GP.
Click here to read all about day one and click here for day two, which also includes a huge stash of photos.
It's a really great read; loads of detail and really capturing the atmosphere, excitement and frustrations of the weekend.
Go see...

(*Above: Alvaro and his 'XIX' tattoo at the 2006 Malaysian Grand Prix)

Forgot to mention in the post yesterday a curious little piece of trivia regarding Bati, arising from the race coverage...
I watch MotoGP on British Eurosport - a thoroughly enjoyable experience, in great part thanks to the excellent Julian Ryder and Toby Moody; jovial, intelligent guys whose informed unbiased and down-to-earth banter is a million miles from ITV's frankly piss-poor Formula One coverage.
Testimony to just how great they are is that my other half, who doesn't even follow - or really like - MotoGP - loves listening to them :)

Weirdly though, in the Czech coverage, they mentioned having noticed that Alvaro Bautista had what they described as a "new" tattoo of 'XIX' on his forearm (Roman numerals for 19 of course); whereas it's actually been there quite some time now - in fact you can see it on this Alvaro Bautista Profile videoclip from last year's Season Review DVD...
This clearly suggests that little Bati simply doesn't get enough coverage if something so big and tattoo-like isn't noticed before now! I'd certainly not put it down to lack of interest from messrs Ryder and Moody, who judging by their comments, really enjoy Bati's riding and presence in 250.
(*And bless them too for finding His Smugnificence Lorenzo's antics hilarious... and "verging on camp" as they put it in a moment of serious understatement...)

Ah well, nobody was really going to touch Lorenzo today (though Dovizioso put up a spirited fight some of the way).
Bati came through from 11th on the grid to get to 8th within a couple of corners, and then wound up in 5th, after a good set of battles with Hector Barbera.
Here's the results...

(Pos Rider Bike Time)
1. Jorge Lorenzo Aprilia 41:04.954
2. Andrea Dovizioso Honda + 7.708
3. Mika Kallio KTM + 11.107
4. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 13.422
5. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia + 13.944
6. Hiroshi Aoyama KTM + 13.989
7. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 22.817
8. Julian Simon Honda + 36.339
9. Shuhei Aoyama Honda + 36.367
10. R.Locatelli Gilera + 37.552
11. Alex de Angelis Aprilia +1:02.616
12. Fabrizio Lai Aprilia +1:13.529
13. Aleix Espargaro Aprilia +1:14.063
14. Karel Abraham Aprilia +1:14.575
15. Efren Vazquez Aprilia +1:14.643
16. R.Wilairot Honda +1:15.165
17. Dirk Heidolf Aprilia +1:15.474
18. Jules Cluzel Aprilia +1:40.064
19. Imre Toth Aprilia +1:53.798
20. Dan Linfoot Aprilia +1:57.103

This leaves Bati 4th overall in the Championship standings, which is great.
Couple of weeks till the next race - the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano.

Oh - and congrats to Casey Stoner on yet another awesome win in the top class :)
Very happy about that!

Here's the grid for tomorrow's Czech GP; sadly Alvaro only got to 11th - so we'll have to count on one of his great charges through the pack to pull in a good result...
Good luck Bati ;)

1 - J Lorenzo (ESP) - Spain's No1 - 2:01.368
2 - A Debon (ESP) - Aprilia - 2:02.026
3 - A Dovizioso (ITA) - Humangest Racing Team 125cc - 2:02.036
4 - A De Angelis (SMR) - Master MVA Aspar Team - 2:02.148
5 - H Barberá (ESP) - Team Toth - 2:02.568
6 - Y Takahashi (JPN) - Humangest Racing Team 125cc - 2:02.690
7 - J Simon (ESP) - Honda - 2:02.907
8 - S Aoyama (JPN) - Honda - 2:02.945
9 - M Kallio (FIN) - KTM Red BUll - 2:02.956
10 - H Aoyama (JPN) - KTM Red BUll - 2:03.009
11 - A Bautista (ESP) - Master MVA Aspar Team - 2:03.026
12 - T Luthi (CHE) - Emmi Caffè Latte - 2:03.372
13 - A Espargaro (ESP) - Blusens Aprilia - 2:03.788
14 - M Simoncelli (ITA) - Gilera - 2:03.890
15 - T Sekiguchi (JPN) - Campetella Racing Aprilia - 2:04.049
16 - R Locatelli (ITA) - Gilera - 2:04.057
17 - D Heidolf (DEU) - Kiefer Castrol Honda - 2:04.535
18 - F Lai (ITA) - Campetella Racing Aprilia - 2:04.797
19 - R Wilairot (THA) - Thai Honda PTT - 2:04.853
20 - E Vazquez (ESP) - Blusens Aprilia - 2:05.157
21 - K Abraham (CZE) - AB Cardion Blauer - 2:05.258
22 - J Cluzel (FRA) - Angaia Racing - 2:06.005
23 - A Baldolini (ITA) - Kiefer Castrol Honda - 2:06.210
24 - I Toth (HUN) - Team Toth - 2:06.372
25 - E Laverty (IRL) - Honda LCR - 2:06.543
26 - D Linfoot (GBR) - Team Sicilia - 2:07.120

(*Above: Brno circuit - ups, downs, esses... a great track...)

Ah well, after the big break, here we are back again and ready to kick off in Brno in the Czech Republic.
Hopefully our guy has had a decent rest and is totally ready to get back on the case and continue his great maiden 250cc season.
Just a quick reminder on the championship standings thus far:

1 - J.LORENZO - 191
2 - A.DE ANGELIS - 171
3 - A.DOVIZIOSO - 166
4 - A.BAUTISTA - 116
5 - H.BARBERA - 90
6 - H.AOYAMA - 78
7 - M.KALLIO - 78
8 - T.LUTHI - 63
9 - J.SIMON - 61
10 - M.SIMONCELLI - 57

Let's hope Bati can take another victory or two - and at least give "His Smugnificence" a good whupping during the rest of the season...
Good luck Alvaro! :)

Right - well there'll be a bit of a lack of updates here on the blog for a little while as I'm going away for a couple of weeks.
There isn't a great deal of Bati or 250cc news at the moment, but if you need your fan fix then click here and go see the people over at the excellent LiveJournal Bautista Fans community...
See you mid August. :)

Cheers,
gb

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