Juanjo Update - Campeón CEX 2009!

Big congrats are in order to young Juanjo Nuñez - our friend and fellow fanclub member from Talavera de la Reina...
He has just taken the title in this year's CEX championship (extremeño de velocidad, or Championship of Speed, Extremadura) thanks to a fourth place in the season's final race at the Almeria circuit.
This is particularly good news following a worrying crash he'd had there in training prior to the event, but brilliant to see he just picked himself up and went for it.

Superb work Juanjo! Congrautulations - Felcidades - I am sure from our readers and from the BatiFans.com forum members. It's another great title for you after another year of hard work, and another step in a career following in Alvaro's footsteps.
We hope we'll still be cheering you in years to come :-)


JUANJO NUÑEZ
Año 2008 :: Campeón :: Campeonato Madrileño de Minimotos
Año 2009 :: Campeón :: Campeonato Extremeño de Velocidad

"Alvaro Bautista, Suzuki Test" Desktop Wallpaper

Here's a new wallpaper to celerbate Alvaro's Suzuki test at Valencia, and the start of an exciting, and challenging, new chapter in his racing career...

Click here to download - 1440x900 pixels
Click here to download - 1280x800 pixels

Enjoy!
gb

(PS: And as always, for more, and exclusive, downloads, join up at BatiFans.com - The Alvaro Bautista Fan Forum)

2010 MotoGP Calendar Gets Revised...

The latest provisional 2010 MotoGP calendar has been announced by the FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme).

The newest version of the 2010 Grand Prix schedule includes a number of changes to the calendar to avoid any clashes with other events on the worldwide stage. The season will begin in April when the first event will be a night race at Losail in Qatar.

Date - Grand Prix - Circuit:
11 April - Qatar* - Losail
25 April - Japan - Motegi
2 May - Spain - Jerez
23 May - France - Le Mans
6 June - Italy - Mugello
20 June - Great Britain - Silverstone
26 June - Netherlands** - Assen
4 July - Catalunya - Catalunya
18 July - Germany - Sachsenring
25 July - United States*** - Laguna Seca
22 August - Czech Republic - Brno
29 August - Indianapolis - Indianapolis
5  September - San Marino & Riviera di Rimini - Misano
19 September - Hungary - Balatonring
10 October - Malaysia - Sepang
17 October - Australia - Phillip Island
31 October - Portugal - Estoril
7 November – Valencia - Ricardo Tormo Valencia

* Evening Race
** Saturday Race
*** Only MotoGP class

In the event that one of the circuits is not able to comply with the requirements to hold the scheduled Grand Prix, the Motorland Aragon Circuit in Spain would host a reserve ‘event' on the same day.

Photos From Alvaro's MotoGP Test; Day One

We sstayed on after the Valencia GP at the weekend for the testing sessions, where Alvaro made his debut on a MotoGP bike over three days with his new team Suzuki.
There's more pics on our other sites, but enjoy these anyway...

Valencia Photo Album - Part One

Alvaro Signs Off With A Great 2nd At Valencia

A tremendous final race in 250cc for Alvaro - fantastic to watch it in the stands with the Fanclub (and I'll aim to post up some personal pics form this very soon) - and definitely exciting to the last. Congrats also to Hiro on the title.

Here's Alvaro's words...
"I would have liked to have finished the year with a win but, bearing in mind the conditions that we were facing today, second is not a bad result. The wind was taking me off-track constantly, making it difficult to stick to my braking points. Yesterday we had some problems in the practice sessions, and this morning we went back to a setting that I preferred. In the warm up we were faster than we were on Saturday, so I knew that I could be up at the front. The only doubt that I had was whether the rear tyre would last the whole race. It may have gone off slightly ahead of time, and it was difficult to keep up with the guys ahead of me until the halfway point of the race. When I opened the throttle the bike started to slide. Second is nothing to be ashamed of, but obviously I would have been happier with a victory. I have spent a wonderful part of my life in the Aspar team, in which almost every moment has been good for me."

And here's the results...

Pos Rider Bike Time/Gap
1. Hector Barbera Aprilia 44m10.601s
2. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia + 3.663s
3. Raffaele de Rosa Honda + 5.665s
4. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 5.680s
5. Ratthapark Wilairot Honda + 13.601s
6. Karel Abraham Aprilia + 13.697s
7. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda + 27.438s
8. Alex Baldolini Aprilia + 35.097s
9. Roberto Locatelli Gilera + 35.866s
10. Shoya Tomizawa Honda + 40.176s
11. Shuhei Aoyama Honda + 49.095s
12. Lukas Pesek Aprilia + 53.132s
13. Balazs Nemeth Aprilia + 1m06.014s
14. Mike di Meglio Aprilia + 1m18.692s
15. Valentin Debise Honda + 1m18.876s
16. Bastien Chesaux Aprilia + 1 lap
17. Vladimir Leonov Aprilia + 1 lap
18. William Dunlop Honda + 1 lap
19. Imre Toth Aprilia + 1 lap



Retirements:
Jules Cluzel Aprilia 23 laps
Marco Simoncelli Gilera 20 laps
Axel Pons Aprilia 19 laps
Mattia Pasini Aprilia 11 laps
Hector Faubel Honda 7 laps

Bati Lines Up 9th For Farewell 250 Race

Another windy session, though less changeable weather overall. Still a bit of a blustery challenge for many riders, and Alvaro putting in plenty of work only to find himself in lots of traffic in the closing minutes...

"We tried a different setting for the afternoon because we had some traction problems this morning but it didn't work so we went back to the original setting - unfortunately we didn't have time to get many laps in after that. There was a lot of traffic on track at the end of the session too and I wasn't able to improve my lap time. It means that once again we're starting from further back than we'd like but hopefully we can have a good warm-up and gain the confidence to push hard from the start of the race. Everybody wants to win tomorrow so it will be a close race and important to stay in touch with the leaders from the start."

Here's the results in full...

Pos Rider Bike Time Laps
1. Alex Debon Aprilia 1m36.116s 20
2. Marco Simoncelli Gilera 1m36.450s + 0.334s 22
3. Hector Barbera Aprilia 1m36.470s + 0.354s 21
4. R.Wilairot Honda 1m36.563s + 0.447s 20
5. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda 1m36.656s + 0.540s 22
6. Thomas Luthi Aprilia 1m36.985s + 0.869s 23
7. Karel Abraham Aprilia 1m37.271s + 1.155s 22
8. Mattia Pasini Aprilia 1m37.278s + 1.162s 20
9. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 1m37.303s + 1.187s 22
10. Hector Faubel Honda 1m37.318s + 1.202s 21
11. Raffaele De Rosa Honda 1m37.365s + 1.249s 21
12. Alex Baldolini Aprilia 1m37.577s + 1.461s 21
13. Jules Cluzel Aprilia 1m37.749s + 1.633s 17
14. R.Locatelli Gilera 1m37.811s + 1.695s 22
15. Mike Di Meglio Aprilia 1m37.958s + 1.842s 15
16. Shoya Tomizawa Honda 1m38.085s + 1.969s 20
17. Axel Pons Aprilia 1m38.126s + 2.010s 21
18. Lukas Pesek Aprilia 1m38.291s + 2.175s 19
19. Balazs Nemeth Aprilia 1m38.737s + 2.621s 21
20. Shuhei Aoyama Honda 1m38.795s + 2.679s 19
21. Valentin Debise Honda 1m39.283s + 3.167s 16
22. Vladimir Leonov Aprilia 1m40.371s + 4.255s 19
23. Bastien Chesaux Aprilia 1m41.605s + 5.489s 13
24. Imre Toth Aprilia 1m42.418s + 6.302s 20
- William Dunlop Honda 1m42.906s + 6.790s 20

Alvaro Third In Friday FP

Okay - today's Friday practice report comes fresh form the infield for a change... well, back at the hotel now, but watched from the infield on a slightly changeable afternoon, mixing sun and cloud, cool calm and wind. You could see some of Bati's exits onto the back straight looking a little wiggly at times, whilst other longer sweeps into the centre of the circuit and round out towards the big long penultimate curve looked gloriously smooth.
For now here's Alvaro's words...

"The conditions were a little strange today. The track surface was dirty and quite cool, so we had to ride carefully. The majority of corners here are to the left so when you flick right you can really notice the lack of grip. Anyway, as the weekend progresses I'm sure the track and the weather will both improve. I felt pretty comfortable with the front end of my Aprilia and we were able to try a few things with the rear aimed at getting more life out of the tyre. We still haven't found the perfect combination so we'll keep trying tomorrow. In general I'm happy with the job we've done and I felt comfortable out there so it's a good start."

And here, for the record, is today's top ten...


1. Barbera (Aprilia) 1min 36.185secs
2. Debon (Aprilia) +0.317sec
3. Bautista (Aprilia) +0.681sec
4. H. Aoyama (Honda) +0.739sec
5. de Rosa (Honda) +0.914sec
6. Simoncelli (Gilera) +0.980sec
7. Faubel (Honda) +1.028sec
8. di Meglio (Aprilia) +1.088sec
9. Wilairot (Honda) +1.241sec
10. Luthi (Aprilia) +1.621sec

Museo Angel Nieto, Madrid

I was in Madrid last weekend to see El Canto Del Loco in concert (and they were awesome by the way, totally awesome...) and during the remainder of a weekend of chilling, wandering and enjoying the place, went to the Angel Nieto Museum; dedicated to the Spanish legend.
It's a great place, stacked out with bikes, leathers, photos and trophies from across his entire career, and a wall of messages and signatures from other Spanish riders and names (including Jorge Martinez, but not Alvaro Bautista sadly) - and even has the leathers form the 2008 "90+90" Celebration with Valentino Rossi. If you're in Madrid, it's well worth a look for a MotoGP fan; and you can find it a short way along the Avenida del Planetario, just around the corner from the Mendez Alvaro Metro station.
Here's a few pics...

Alvaro Looks Ahead To Valencia Weekend

Although he's not finishing the season as 250 champ, Bati nonetheless aims to end his 2009 campaign on a high and in a really positive frame of mind.
He'll be following the race weekend with testing for Suzuki, to give us a mouthwatering teaser of next year...

Here's his thoughts ahead of the weekend:
"I would have liked to be going to Valencia in different circumstances this weekend but luck hasn't been on our side for the last three races. The championship is over for me but this is my last race in the 250 class and I want to enjoy it in front of my home fans. I'll go out there and give it everything to fight for the win. We have missed out on our main objective so now I just want to enjoy the weekend and sign off from the class in style. It is important to me to end this phase of my career with a win. Cheste holds few secrets for me because I have done so many laps there and it is one of my favourite circuits. There are no excuses and I will be giving it everything from Friday."

Suerte Alvaro!