Alvaro Kicks Assen!

Brilliant job from Alvaro Bautista today, putting the disappointment of Donington squarely behind him to take a definitive victory in a race of mixed and unpredictable conditions.

Initially I'll admit to worrying as he pulled one of his occasional naff starts, dropping from pole down to somewhere around 9th I think, before - even within the first lap - regaining his composure and starting to creep up through the field.
'Creep' is probably the wrong word actually, as his progress was pretty rapid; clearing the likes of Debon and Kalio to soon move in front of Luthi and take the lead.

He lost the lead again for a short while when a few drops of rain unsettled the field, only to take it back and pull away again to an easy win.

Other entertainment in the race came from Hector Barbera inventing new corners and straights occasionally (almost taking out Kallio on one of his jaunts), and Simoncelli getting some of his own medicine in a first corner tangle with Luthi (something which he for some reason didn't appear to see the funny side of in the press conference. Either a superb attempt at irony, or 100% lack of self-awareness...)

Anyway - superb job Alvaro, and it's brilliant to see the smile again.
And great to see you bumped back up to 4th in the championship.
Estupendo Bati! :)


Here's the results in brief
(will post the full list when they're available)...

1. Bautista (Aprilia)
2. Luthi (Aprilia) +4.597secs
3. Simoncelli (Gilera) +6.003secs
4. Debon (Aprilia) +9.034secs
5. Barbera (Aprilia) +9.079secs
6. Aoyama (KTM) +11.515secs
7. Kallio (KTM) +12.874secs
8. Takahashi (Honda) +13.622secs
9. Locatelli (Gilera) +21.168secs
10. Simon (KTM) +28.789secs