30 August 2007

Exclusive Alvaro Bautista XIX Desktop Wallpapers


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...

28 August 2007

BatiFans.com Alvaro Bautista Fan Forum Launches...


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...

26 August 2007

Something Special...


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!

22 August 2007

Two Days At The Sachsenring - Postings & Pics By stv21


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...

20 August 2007

Julian Ryder, Toby Moody and Alvaro's XIX Tattoo


(*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...)

19 August 2007

Alvaro 5th In 250cc Czech Grand Prix At Brno


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!


18 August 2007

Grid line-up for Czech GP @ Brno - 250cc


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



17 August 2007

Alvaro Bautista Back on MotoGP 250cc Trail at Brno


(*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! :)