Alvaro Quotes: Post-Race, Indy GP

"It hasn't been a good weekend for us if we are talking about the world title, because Simoncelli is closer to us and Aoyama is now further ahead. I had a lot of problems in practice, just like at Brno where I didn't feel at all comfortable on the bike. I didn't manage to find that decent setting that I needed. Yesterday afternoon I felt more confident, and believed that today I could fight at the front. It was a pity that I made such a slow start, because I got stuck behind Debón and it was hard to pass him. When I got through I tried to regain ground with the front two, but they were already too far away. I tried to push at the limit, but on such a bumpy track it is hard to feel comfortable enough to do that when you know that you could fall easily. It hasn't been the weekend that we expected, but at least we didn't lose too many points in the standings. We'll see if at the next few races we can work better in practice, in order to have a setup ready for Sunday."

Indianapolis GP - Race Result, 250cc

Pos | Rider | Bike | Time
1. Marco Simoncelli Gilera 45m43.599s
2. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda + 1.943s
3. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia + 4.661s
4. Mike Di Meglio Aprilia + 12.776s
5. R.Locatelli Gilera + 15.475s
6. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 19.471s
7. Lukas Pesek Aprilia + 22.682s
8. Hector Faubel Honda + 32.809s
9. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 49.321s
10. Karel Abraham Aprilia + 49.845s
11. Raffaele De Rosa Honda + 53.567s
12. Alex Baldolini Aprilia +1m29.717s
13. Valentin Debise Honda +1m37.837s
14. Axel Pons Aprilia +1m46.672s
15. Vladimir Leonov Aprilia +1m46.821s
16. Balazs Nemeth Aprilia + 1 lap
17. Imre Toth Aprilia + 1 lap
18. Barrett Long Yamaha + 1 lap
19. Adam Roberts Yamaha + 1 lap
NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

Rider | Bike | On lap
R.Wilairot Honda 23
Alex Debon Aprilia 18
Jules Cluzel Aprilia 7
Mattia Pasini Aprilia 5
Bastien Chesaux Honda 0

FIM Announces 2009 Regulation Changes

The Grand Prix Commission, composed of Messrs. Carmelo Ezpeleta (Dorna, Chairman), Claude Danis (FIM), Hervé Poncharal (IRTA) and Takanao Tsubouchi (MSMA), in the presence of Messrs. Vito Ippolito (FIM President), Ignacio Verneda (FIM Sport Director), Javier Alonso (Dorna) and Paul Butler (Secretary of the meeting), in a meeting held on August 29 in Indianapolis (USA) unanimously decided the following:
For immediate application:

Changes to Article 2.9 Tyre restrictions for MotoGP

2.9.1 Delete “and the allocated quantities of each specification of tyre will be the same for every rider”.

2.9.2 In the case of a rider change after the final allocation has been made, the replacement rider must use only the tyres allocated to the original rider.


2.9.3 Teams must inform the supplier of the number of each front slick specification selected by their rider(s) no later than (…)
Any new rider entering the next race after the selection deadline will be allocated 4 front slick tyres of specification A and 4 of specification B.

Changes to the press release dated 25/07/09.
Practice Restrictions.

The Season is defined as the period starting 14 days before the first race of the year and ending 4 days after the last race of the year, both dates being inclusive. The season does not include “Breaks”. A Break is defined as two consecutive week-ends where events are not scheduled. The period of the Break extends from 09h00 on the second day after the Grand Prix until the following Grand Prix.

Indianapolis GP; Alvaro Quotes, Friday

"It looked as though the track was drying but then it rained again, which made it a difficult session because it was impossible to get into a consistent rhythm. I tried to gradually get a feel for the track and the conditions and I got more and more comfortable until we had to stop early because the engine temperature dropped too low. By that time the conditions were really bad anyway and the bike was aquaplaning. The old part of the circuit is quite bumpy but has good grip, whilst you have to take care on the part they re-laid last year because it is slippery. Hopefully we get a dry day tomorrow so that we can check out how our settings from last year work."

Indy GP - FP1 Results - 250cc

Pos | Rider | Team | Lap time | Time
1 Jules CLUZEL Matteoni Racing 1'53.512
2 Hector BARBERA Pepe World Team 1'54.244 0.732
3 Marco SIMONCELLI Metis Gilera 1'54.699 1.187
4 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1'55.007 1.495
5 Mike DI MEGLIO Mapfre Aspar Team 250cc 1'55.114 1.602
6 Hector FAUBEL Honda SAG 1'55.383 1.871
7 Alex DEBON Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens 1'55.481 1.969
8 Roberto LOCATELLI Metis Gilera 1'55.501 1.989
9 Alex BALDOLINI WTR San Marino Team 1'55.525 2.013
10 Alvaro BAUTISTA Mapfre Aspar Team 1'55.559 2.047
11 Mattia PASINI Team Toth Aprilia 1'55.778 2.266
12 Thomas LUTHI Emmi - Caffe Latte 1'55.955 2.443
13 Raffaele DE ROSA Scot Racing Team 250cc 1'56.010 2.498
14 Hiroshi AOYAMA Scot Racing Team 250cc 1'56.243 2.731
15 Lukas PESEK Auto Kelly - CP 1'56.287 2.775
16 Ratthapark WILAIROT Thai Honda PTT SAG 1'56.724 3.212
17 Shoya TOMIZAWA CIP Moto - GP250 1'56.906 3.394
18 Imre TOTH Team Toth Aprilia 1'58.297 4.785
19 Vladimir LEONOV Viessmann Kiefer Racing 1'58.744 5.232
20 Valentin DEBISE CIP Moto - GP250 1'59.179 5.667
21 Axel PONS Pepe World Team 1'59.442 5.930
22 Bastien CHESAUX Racing Team Germany 2'00.919 7.407
23 Balazs NEMETH Balatonring Team 2'01.216 7.704

Out of limit time
29 Barrett LONG USA Longevity Racing Yamaha
30 Adam ROBERTS CAN Rat Racing Yamaha

Indy GP - BBC TV Schedule

With it being a big old gap between us and Indy on the other side of the pond - or a completely different gap depending on where you live of course! - this weekend is one to plan carefully for TV coverage.
Here's the BBC schedules...


Saturday 29 August
Qualifying
17:50-21:00, BBC Red Button/online

....................................................................

Sunday 30 August
125 and 250cc race
16:50-18:05, BBC Red Button/online

MotoGP Race
19:45-21:00, BBC Three/online
Race repeat
02:20-03:35, BBC Three

....................................................................

New TeamAspar.net Website Now Online

A day back from the Spain trip and I've finally put live the new build of the www.TeamAspar.net website, which replaces the old blog page. Now that the team is getting bigger and expanding into the top class of MotoGP I reckoned that we needed to build a completely custom website - a fully-featured and content-managed solution.
That's now been done, and all the old content from here has been imported, and you can find the new site at www.TeamAspar.net though the old blog will remain online as an archive for a while at least.

Hope you like the new site.
Cheers,
gb

Happy Days

End of a relaxing 7 days in Spain: this is the view from little local bar "Casa Paco" which has been a brilliant and friendly hangout.
I'll be hard at work relaunching the TeamAspar.net site across Weds and Thurs, but expect a spanking new and cool look to it all ahead of the Indy weekend.

Sad to say goodbye to Spain but at least I'm back for Alvaro's fanclub summer party in a couple of weeks, El Canto Del Loco in concert in October and the Valencia GP in November...



> Blogged from my iPhone <

Stop Press: Alvaro Confirmed At Suzuki

Post-race Brno and Alvaro is confirmed by Suzuki as riding for them in the top class of MotoGP for the next two years.
Here's their statement...

"Suzuki Motor Corporation is pleased to announce that Spaniard Alvaro Bautista will be joining its official MotoGP team in a two year agreement, to contest the 2010 and 2011 MotoGP World Championships...
Suzuki is very pleased to have achieved the signing of one of the brightest young stars in Grand Prix racing and looks forward to developing a strong relationship and exciting races with Alvaro Bautista."

We'll aim to bring you more quotes and reaction as it emerges, both here and on the BatiFans Forum where you can expect much discussion on the matter.

A Wheelie Bad End To The Race!

Okay - not *that* bad; it at least happened after the chequered flag, but - unlike Assen - the last time when Alvaro disappeared under the arse of his own bike, when I was able to justly blame Hiro - this time I can't really point the finger anywhere but at the Batster himself. Embarrassed giggles in the post-race press conference, but possibly not exactly the same reaction from Mr Aspar himself...?

"The only good session this weekend was the race. Fortunately everything worked out okay for us when it came to the crucial moment. It took just two laps for the tyres to degenerate, and that was a warning for me not to push things and look out for points. The weekend was a tough one for us, because we never had the right setup. I could have tried to follow Simoncelli and Pasini, but it looked to be too risky and I concentrated on Aoyama instead. I've closed the gap on him in the standings, and if we continue like this we can catch him. I left it until the warmup to choose my setting in the suspension, and I didn't have as much chance in this race, so I'm happy with third."

Czech GP, Brno - Results, 250cc

Pos. Rider Team Total time Gap

1 Marco SIMONCELLI Metis Gilera 41'06.490
2 Mattia PASINI Team Toth Aprilia 41'07.174 0.684
3 Alvaro BAUTISTA Mapfre Aspar Team 41'10.871 4.381
4 Hiroshi AOYAMA Scot Racing Team 250cc 41'15.236 8.746
5 Roberto LOCATELLI Metis Gilera 41'16.211 9.721
6 Raffaele DE ROSA Scot Racing Team 250cc 41'17.360 10.870
7 Hector BARBERA Pepe World Team 41'22.129 15.639
8 Jules CLUZEL Matteoni Racing 41'24.901 18.411
9 Mike DI MEGLIO Mapfre Aspar Team 250cc 41'25.053 18.563
10 Hector FAUBEL Honda SAG 41'26.448 19.958
11 Ratthapark WILAIROT Thai Honda PTT SAG 41'26.574 20.084
12 Lukas PESEK Auto Kelly - CP 41'37.122 30.632
13 Shoya TOMIZAWA CIP Moto - GP250 41'43.608 37.118
14 Balazs NEMETH Balatonring Team 42'23.974 1'17.484
15 Valentin DEBISE CIP Moto - GP250 42'31.174 1'24.684
16 Axel PONS Pepe World Team 42'31.622 1'25.132
17 Imre TOTH Team Toth Aprilia 42'53.415 1'46.925
18 Aitor RODRIGUEZ Matteoni Racing 42'58.955 1'52.465
19 Vladimir LEONOV Viessmann Kiefer Racing 43'06.284 1'59.794

Not classified
8 Bastien CHESAUX SWI Racing Team Germany Honda 25'36.289 8 Lap
6 Alex DEBON SPA Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens Aprilia 19'02.327 11 Lap
25 Alex BALDOLINI ITA WTR San Marino Team Aprilia 13'54.614 14 Lap
54 Toby MARKHAM GBR C&L Racing Aprilia 2'19.072 19 Lap

Not finished 1st lap
12 Thomas LUTHI SWI Emmi - Caffe Latte Aprilia
17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Aprilia

Alvaro - Czech GP - Saturday Quotes

Alvaro starts 8th on the grid... He found his best setting ten minutes before the end of the free practice - but also had a difficult afternoon, losing the front end of his Aprilia on turn five just minutes before the end of the session, leaving him on the asphalt and unable to get the bike back out in time for a final attempt at pole position. Luckily he suffered no injuries in the lowside crash, and will aim to challenge for the lead from eight on the grid. He predicts a tough battle on Sunday, in which he will be going all-out for points as the title race heats up and after losing ground to Aoyama in the standings.

"The crash was totally unexpected, as I had already put two laps on the new tyres. I got into turn five and everything seized up, causing me to fall. This morning we did various tests on the front suspension and found some things that worked, then we continued with the front end in the afternoon but lost our way.
The changes in place at the end of the practice are the ones that I would favour for the race and I am sure that if we had done more laps with this setting then we would have done better today. We will go back to it tomorrow in the warmup and try again. In the race I wil have to start well in order to be at the front and fight like I have done this season. I will have to take risks if necessary, because I can't afford to lose more points."

Czech GP - Qualifying 250cc

Pos | Rider | Team | Lap time | Gap
1 Marco SIMONCELLI Metis Gilera 2′01.611
2 Hiroshi AOYAMA Scot Racing Team 250cc 2′01.961 0.350
3 Hector BARBERA Pepe World Team 2′02.064 0.453
4 Alex DEBON Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens 2′02.386 0.775
5 Mike DI MEGLIO Mapfre Aspar Team 250cc 2′02.426 0.815
6 Roberto LOCATELLI Metis Gilera 2′02.543 0.932
7 Mattia PASINI Team Toth Aprilia 2′02.561 0.950
8 Alvaro BAUTISTA Mapfre Aspar Team 2′02.748 1.137
9 Raffaele DE ROSA Scot Racing Team 250cc 2′02.768 1.157
10 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 2′02.811 1.200
11 Hector FAUBEL Honda SAG 2′02.899 1.288
12 Ratthapark WILAIROT Thai Honda PTT SAG 2′02.921 1.310
13 Thomas LUTHI Emmi – Caffe Latte 2′02.932 1.321
14 Jules CLUZEL Matteoni Racing 2′02.997 1.386
15 Lukas PESEK Auto Kelly – CP 2′03.596 1.985
16 Shoya TOMIZAWA CIP Moto – GP250 2′03.951 2.340
17 Alex BALDOLINI WTR San Marino Team 2′04.100 2.489
18 Balazs NEMETH Balatonring Team 2′05.493 3.882
19 Axel PONS Pepe World Team 2′06.350 4.739
20 Valentin DEBISE CIP Moto – GP250 2′06.571 4.960
21 Bastien CHESAUX Racing Team Germany 2′07.088 5.477
22 Imre TOTH Team Toth Aprilia 2′07.130 5.519
23 Vladimir LEONOV Viessmann Kiefer Racing 2′08.362 6.751
24 Aitor RODRIGUEZ Matteoni Racing 2′08.600 6.989

Alvaro - Czech GP - Friday Quotes

“After two weeks off my Aprilia this session was useful for checking that everything was in its right place. I am not worried, because we are up front despite some problems with front end chattering. The suspension wasn’t absorbing the bumps like it should have, so we worked on that. If things go well then that will be resolved tomorrow. We don’t have a setting that I like above all the others, but I’m sure that we will find one. We are more than half a second off the top, but I am confident that tomorrow we will catch up. My elbow is fine and I can work at 100%.”

Czech GP - Friday Practice Results

Pos | Rider | Team | Lap time | Gap
1 Hector BARBERA Pepe World Team 2′02.371
2 Hiroshi AOYAMA Scot Racing Team 250cc 2′02.511 0.140
3 Alex DEBON Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens 2′03.125 0.754
4 Alvaro BAUTISTA Mapfre Aspar Team 2′03.130 0.759
5 Roberto LOCATELLI Metis Gilera 2′03.427 1.056
6 Marco SIMONCELLI Metis Gilera 2′03.486 1.115
7 Mattia PASINI Team Toth Aprilia 2′03.528 1.157
8 Thomas LUTHI Emmi – Caffe Latte 2′03.588 1.217
9 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 2′03.911 1.540
10 Mike DI MEGLIO Mapfre Aspar Team 250cc 2′03.923 1.552
11 Hector FAUBEL Honda SAG 2′04.094 1.723
12 Ratthapark WILAIROT Thai Honda PTT SAG 2′04.164 1.793
13 Raffaele DE ROSA Scot Racing Team 250cc 2′04.385 2.014
14 Alex BALDOLINI WTR San Marino Team 2′04.851 2.480
15 Jules CLUZEL Matteoni Racing 2′05.076 2.705
16 Lukas PESEK Auto Kelly – CP 2′05.090 2.719
17 Shoya TOMIZAWA CIP Moto – GP250 2′05.707 3.336
18 Bastien CHESAUX Racing Team Germany 2′07.539 5.168
19 Valentin DEBISE CIP Moto – GP250 2′07.665 5.294
20 Balazs NEMETH Balatonring Team 2′07.998 5.627
21 Vladimir LEONOV Viessmann Kiefer Racing 2′08.236 5.865
22 Axel PONS Pepe World Team 2′08.385 6.014
23 Toby MARKHAM C&L Racing 2′08.478 6.107
24 Imre TOTH Team Toth Aprilia 2′08.478 6.107
25 Aitor RODRIGUEZ Matteoni Racing 2′08.952 6.581

Alvaro Previews Brno

"Brno isn't one of my favourite tracks, but I think it's a good opportunity to get a good result because it's a fast track which should in theory suit my Aprilia. I am keen to get back on track because I wasn't at 100% physically last time out, and I think I could have fought for victory if I had have been. I want to be at the front from the off this weekend, I need to take as many points as possible off Aoyama. My elbow is much better, although still a bit swollen the wound is healing well and I think by Friday it should be all back to normal. I spent these two weeks relaxing and spending time with my family as we had two very important events. They were two busy family weeks, but I continued training hard. I was also at the race in La Bañeza which I really enjoyed and I got to feel the support of the fans."

Decision-Time For Alvaro And Aspar

For those of us who want to see Alvaro go up into MotoGP with Aspar next season, this weekend looks like being the crunch.
There are reports around from the likes of Marca and GPOne that suggest Bati signed a pre-contract of some kind with Suzuki in the middle of 2008, and that a ride on the vacant Ducati seat in Aspar’s new MotoGP team is by no means a certainty.
Not only would breaking the pre-contract probably ensure a hefty financial penalty of some kind, but also it’s worth bearing in mind that the Rizla Suzuki team are a factory squad who have been given leave not to stick to the controversial “rookie rule” and there may well be benefits to a factory Suzuki ride over a “satellite” Ducati squad such as Aspar’s.

Nonetheless I think many of us would like to see the relationship with Jorge Martinez continue - and continue to develop. There would be a definite expectation of good support from both Ducati and Aspar himself, and of course there’s the possibility of the factory Ducati ride in 2011. And while the Ducati has been, let’s face it, a bit of a handful for pretty much everyone except Casey Stoner, Suzuki have hardly been setting the world on fire either.

There’s a lot to decide. And soon, as it’s suggested that meetings will happen between Martinez and Alvaro’s management on Thursday at Brno and that - whatever - Aspar will, as far as we're aware, be definitely announcing his 2010 line-up this weekend.

New Icons By stv21

Yay, MotoGP's back this weekend, and to help get you in the mood you should pop over to LiveJournal to grab some excellent new web icons for forums and bulletin boards by the awesome stv21
Please ensure you stick to the crediting/no-linking principles though :-)

Fanclub Party Latest

The official fanclub has emailed members outlining details for the summer party ("Fiesta de Verano") - now confirmed for Saturday September 12th from 12 noon onwards at Los Aparcamientos Del Centro Comercial Nuevo Centro, on the Avenida de la Constitucion (the venue for March's "launch" party).
There's going to be music, there's going to be Alvaro's bike, and all kinds of other activities. You can very very very probably count on a showing of Alvaro himself too, though they don't mention it in the email.
Accommodation offers from the swanky Hotel Oasis in the town centre are also spelled out.

Although the presence will, as always, be largely local and regional, there will probably be a couple of us from the UK going. So, who knows - maybe see you there!

New Improved AlvaroBautista.co.uk Website Now Live

I’m very pleased to announce that we have now completed the overhaul of www.alvarobautista.co.uk and that it is once again accessible to all.

It is a major redesign, and has moved away from being a ‘pretty but flat’ set of pages to a completely fully-featured news site with a huge news archive and a site search.

Although we all share and discuss news and ongoing rumours and race weekends on the BatiFans forum, we wanted to make a complete and comprehensive English-language Alvaro Bautista news service available to anybody around the world, and have so far added all of the news, interviews and features from the 2009 season and pre-season (including some videos) to the site, and will hope to add the 2008 news soon as well.

You can also comment on the posts if you wish so long as you use an email address when posting; and you can also share any news item by clicking on one of the buttons below it to post it to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and many other social bookmarking sites - as well as being able to email it with one click.
You can also subscribe to RSS news feeds of the new site so you can find out instantly whenever news is added.

We have also added some special “relaunch” downloads from the excellent ruushki - icons and wallpapers - which you can find on the site’s new Downloads page.
At the same time, we have also taken the opportunity to add some new E-Cards, so you can now have an even better choice of action pics, arty pics and cute pics from this year right back through all the seasons of Bati’s career in the world championships.

I hope you like the new www.alvarobautista.co.uk website, and I hope it is a useful extra resource for you - and for our many, many thousands of other visitors.

Cheers
gb