2007 Alvaro Bautista Replica Helmets

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....

Well Done Casey

Congratulations; job well done :)

Motegi: A Race To Forget For Bautista

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

Tough Practice Sessions End In 11th Spot On Grid

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

MotoGP - Japanese Grand Prix - TV Coverage on Eurosport

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

Alvaro Bautista - "Campeón" Soundtrack Download

(*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 :)

"Alvaro Bautista Campeón" - the BatiFans.com video

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 :)

AlvaroBautista.co.uk Gets TV Plug On Eurosport

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!

Estoril Quotes From "Brilliant Bautista"

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."

Alvaro Bautista Takes Brilliant Second 250 Win At Estoril

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

MotoGP Calendar 2008 Gets Updated

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)

Aspar Aprilia Confirm Alvaro Bautista for 2008

(*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 :)

Alvaro drops the bike but fights back to 8th at Misano

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.