The Challenger

With the Qatar tests underway, and the race at Losail kicking off the 2009 season this weekend, it seems an opportune time to go over the tech specs for Alvaro's bike...

ENGINE
Type: two strokes
Configuration / number of cylinders: one cylinder
Diameter: 54x54,5
Cubic capacity: 124,5
Compression: 18:1
Admission: rotary side valve
Gear Box: 6 gears
Clutch: dry multidisk

CHASSIS
Chassis – manufacturer and material: Aprilia/aluminium
Front Fork – Type, manufacturer: inverted/Ohlins
Rear Suspension – Type, manufacturer: Pro-link/Ohlins
Direction shock absorber – Type Manufacturer: Ohlins

BRAKES
Front brakes: two disks/ Diameter 218:steel/manufacturer: Brembo/ Clips: 2 Brembo
Rear Brakes: one disk/ steel/ manufacturer: Brembo/ Clips: Brembo

TYRES
Wheel rim: 17/ Aprilia/ Carbon
Front: Dunlop 95/70-17”
Rear: Dunlop 120/70-17”

DIMENSIONS
Distance among axles: 1230 mm
Total distance: 1830 mm
Height seat: 760 mm
Dry Weight: 72 kg
Tank capacity: 14 litres

Alvaro Speaks On His Injury & The 2009 Season

Here's some words form Alvaro at a press conference held in Talavera de la Reina, both about his collarbone injury and also about the season ahead...

"I have the normal pains and aches after surgery, but I can already ride a bike again, although I must follow the path of recovery. I hope to be without any problems at next the test.
No injury comes at the right time, but in my case we can speak of luck, since the crash and the collarbone fracture happend when we have enough time to recover, to continue with the training and to be prepared for the first test of the championship.

...The season looks to be very difficult and complicated when we have to try and be better than the guy with the number one and, in addition, better than strong riders who moved up a class and other riders who already had two seasons in 250cc and have the same goals we have. We are going to approach the season with calm, tranquillity and will go race by race and, mainly, we know that the pressure is on the rider who defends the title.

Last season we wanted too much too quickly, to be leaders as rapidly as possible and that made us commit errors. We have learned from that and we know more than last year - in my case among others things that I already know how to race against the present champion who I haven't battled before.
We are all very determined, with much motivation and, mainly, optimistic after seeing the laptimes we managed to do in the tests. The whole team is in high spirits and, which is also important, having a good base in this moment of crisis”.

All very positive sounding on both counts, and we look forward to seeing him follow such positivity through very soon :-)

"My Goal This Season Is To Be Champion"

Read the English translation of Alvaro's latest interview for the Aspar website, looking ahead to 2009, in full here at BatiFans.com

Valencia Testing - Day 1

Team Aspar were at Valencia, running both 125 and 250 bikes.
Here's how the 250s fared...
1.- Álvaro Bautista ESP Aprilia 1.37.1 53 laps
2.- Gabor Talmacsi HUN Aprilia 1.38.1 41 laps
3.- Mike di Meglio FRA Aprilia 1.38.9 55 laps

Keep up with all the news, stats, pics and comment here...

Alvaro Bautista Diecasts Campaign - Level 2

We at BatiFans want to try and push the campaign for Alvaro Bautista diecast models further afield than Minichamps, and would appreciate your help in also filling up the Suggestion Boxes at Spanish company Altaya (who already produce some nice 1:24 MotoGP bikes) and Chinese manufactrer Ixo (who produced the 2005 Alvaro Honda in 1:24).
Obivously the 2006 and 2008 bikes are probably going to be the most important to suggest, but particularly with 1:24 scale why not push for a full "collection"...

Altaya have a suggestion page on their website: Click here...
And here is the page translated into English...
Please can you submit the suggestions to this site (pmaybe be courteous and write in Spanish if you can, using Google's translation page) - and on this occasion make sure you remind them that as a Spanish company they could use Alvaro's popularity in Spain to sell such a collection.
By the way - If you have problems submitting the form it is because it demands a postcode (Spanish I guess) - I just filled that field with 11111 and it worked.


As for IXO, they have a page also saying they welcome suggestions, so please don't be shy.
As ever let's campaign for all bikes from 2003 through to 2008 - including the red & yellow World Championship end of season 2006 livery. Here's the contacts for IXO...
Trade inquiries: sales@ixomodels.com
Customer Service: cs@ixomodels.com

Please write, and get other fans to write, and let's get some momentum behind this!
Thanks :)
gb

Alvaro Joins In Celebrations Of 10 Years Of Valencia Circuit

Above: Alvaro joins Jorge Martinez and all the Team Aspar riders, amongst others, at the big 10th anniversary celebrations of the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Cheste on Thursday, ahead of this weekend's Grand Prix.

Alvaro Bautista Confirmed For 250cc In 2009

After spending many daft weeks examining and dispelling various MotoGP rumours we are now very happy to put an end to it all with the announcement that Jorge Martinez will be retaining the services of Alvaro Bautista in 250cc once again next year.

Here's the quotes...

Álvaro Bautista:
"I'm really happy to renew my contract because I am so comfortable with the set-up at Mapfre Aspar. The mechanics and team structure are unbeatable. Now that we have re-signed with Jorge for 2009 I feel much more relaxed and I'm ready to continue my education in this category."
 
Jorge Martínez:
"It is a pleasure for us to be able to continue with Álvaro for another season. I have always known that he is a born winner and signing him again was a personal mission for me. I'm convinced he will give us plenty more reasons to celebrate and as he showed in the 125cc class in 2006 he has everything it takes to become 250cc World Champion - whether it is this season or next."

WE SAY: Great to see the partnership being renewed, and hopefully Alvaro can go up to the top class with a lot more experience and two 250 titles! ;)

Alvaro - Quotes Ahead Of Brno

Alvaro Bautista:
“This break was very much needed to relieve the stress of so many races in such a short time. Especially considering that in some cases the result was not the one we wanted. But I focus on the fact that I finished the first part of the championship and can return with full force to be at the front again, with 100% power.
We have to go on with the same mindset, thinking from race to race, knowing that we still have seven races and many points to play for. At the moment anything can happen - the first part (of the season) wasn't very good to us, but considering the last races before the break that will surely change. We always have to continue being in the fight for the top positions.”

(*Source: Aspar Media)

Alvaro Bautista: Quotes Ahead Of British GP

"Donington is my favourite circuit, in that I got my first track points and my first World Championship podium.
I also got the fastest lap in 2004 and in 2006 in 125cc.
For this event I can only hope that everything goes well; as well as in Montmeló and we can continue this streak, and have two consecutive good results.
I just have the desire to climb on the Aprilia and have fun on it as I have up until now."

Win a Limited Edition Aspar Jacket with LondonBikers.com

We, over at BatiFans.com - The Alvaro Bautista Fan Forum have put another of those excellent limited edition Team Aspar jackets up to be won.
This time we've teamed up with the triffick people over at LondonBikers.com who are offering it up as a prize for a pre-British GP competition with a question so easy that any Alvaro Bautista fan should be able to answer it in their sleep.
We suggest you get over there and enter now to be in with another chance of winning one of these rare and rather cool jackets.
And enjoy a great biking website while you're there too, of course... :D

Click here to go to LondonBikers.com...

Catalunya GP - Event Schedule

Friday Jun 6
125cc :: Free Practice 1 :: 09:00-09:45 
MotoGP :: Free Practice 1 :: 10:00-11:00 
250cc :: Free Practice 1 :: 11:15-12:15 
125cc :: Qualifying 1 :: 13:10-13:40
MotoGP :: Free Practice 2 :: 13:55-14:55 
250cc :: Qualifying 1 :: 15:10-15:55


Saturday June 7
125cc :: Free Practice 2 :: 09:00-09:45 
MotoGP :: Free Practice 3 :: 10:00-11:00 
250cc :: Free Practice 2 :: 11:15-12:15 
125cc :: Qualifying 2 :: 13:10-13:40 
MotoGP :: Qualifying 1 :: 13:55-14:55 
250cc :: Qualifying 2 :: 15:10-15:55


Sunday June 8
125cc :: Warm-Up :: 08:40-09:00 
250cc :: Warm-Up :: 09:10-09:30 
MotoGP :: Warm-Up :: 09:40-10:05 
125cc :: Race :: 11:00-11:45 
250cc :: Race :: 12:30-13:00 
MotoGP :: Race :: 14:00-15:00

(*All times local)

Pictures of Alvaro in China

Alvaro Looks Ahead To Shanghai

Here's some quotes from Alvaro, looking ahead to the coming weekend's race in China, translated by Tamara - thanks ;)

"I come to China after we made the best of the weekend in Portugal and snatched the victory, and after being with my friends and family. I also I fulfilled some team duties. The triumph of Estoril has given me much tranquillity and this really is what matters to me the most, facing the GP in Shanghai.
During the past weeks I have been training hard to come to China in the best shape possible. It is not one of my favorite circuits, but in the last two years I have been on the podium in 125 and in 250. So hopefully this year we will be able to repeat that result or even improve it. It is a quite an atypical circuit with its curves, but if we continue working like we did so far, we will surely be able to find the best setting."

Looking Ahead To The Chinese Grand Prix

Right, well after such a seemingly long break after that terrific Estoril weekend, we move onto China for the next round; which was one of Alvaro's top races last year, coming home 3.904 seconds behind Jorge Lorenzo and over 5 seconds ahead of third place man Andrea Dovizioso (de Angelis, Kallio and Barbera making up the top six).
It was a strong and spirited performance - and with a memorable "hard but fair" pass on Dovi, and it'll be good to see him pull another great race out of the bag this time round. I think, on balance, given how the season started, another runaway victory would be more than welcome - though it'd be equally cool to see some excellent dicing again.
Here's the weekend event schedule...
(*All times are local, of course)

Friday May 2nd
125cc :: Free Practice 1 :: 09:00-09:45
MotoGP :: Free Practice 1 :: 10:00-11:00
250cc :: Free Practice 1 :: 11:15-12:15
125cc :: Qualifying 1 :: 13:10-13:40
MotoGP :: Free Practice 2 :: 13:55-14:55
250cc :: Qualifying 1 :: 15:10-15:55


Saturday May 3rd
125cc :: Free Practice 2 :: 09:00-09:45
MotoGP :: Free Practice 3 :: 10:00-11:00
250cc :: Free Practice 2 :: 11:15-12:15
125cc :: Qualifying 2 :: 13:10-13:40
MotoGP :: Qualifying 1 :: 13:55-14:55
250cc :: Qualifying 2 :: 15:10-15:55


Sunday May 4th
125cc :: Warm-Up :: 09:40-10:00
250cc :: Warm-Up :: 10:10-10:30
MotoGP :: Warm-Up :: 10:49-11:05
125cc :: Race :: 12:00-11:45
250cc :: Race :: 13:15-13:00
MotoGP :: Race :: 15:00-15:00


Oh, and if you click on the picture at the top of this post, you can download it as a 1280x1024 desktop wallpaper. How lovely, smashing and generous are we????

Bautista Takes Dominant Win In Portugal

A great and dominant victory for Alvaro Bautista at Estoril, and a very much needed - and indeed - deserved lift after his problematic start to the 2008 season.
More info, pics and quotes to come, but for now here's the results...

Pos | Rider | Bike | Time
1. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 44:34.257
2. Marco Simoncelli Gilera + 7.050
3. Mika Kallio KTM + 7.063
4. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 12.998
5. Hiroshi Aoyama KTM + 14.666
6. Yuki Takahashi Honda + 18.498
7. Julian Simon KTM + 26.812
8. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 28.012
9. Hector Faubel Aprilia + 28.288
10. Lukas Pesek Aprilia + 36.966
11. Aleix Espargaro Aprilia + 38.296
12. Alex Baldolini Aprilia + 52.070
13. R.Wilairot Honda + 1:13.303
14. Federico Sandi Aprilia + 1:17.592
15. Eugene Laverty Aprilia + 1:21.363
16. Karel Abraham Aprilia + 1:26.355
17. Manuel Poggiali Gilera + 1:27.438
18. Imre Toth Aprilia + 1 lap
19. D.T.Pradita Yamaha + 1 lap

Alvaro's Message To His Fans...

Thanks to Pringle for managing to translate this post from Alvaro to his official (Spanish) forum, following up the Jerez weekend.
(*All the jejeje type stuff is Spanish for laughing by the way!)

Hello everybody!! How are you?? I’m fine but I could be better jejejje
It was a pity in Jerez, because the whole weekend went pretty well, ok I had some small problems with the bike on Friday but they were resolved very well on Saturday and I had fun riding again and had a lot of confidence for Sunday… The race went brilliant, I felt strong and I wanted to win no matter what, I had it clear and under control, and I wanted to celebrate a victory with all of you, but I didn’t expect what happened, of which you know all already and there’s no need to tell you again, no??? jejejejej
You know what especially impressed me most and what moved me??? As well as all of you who did not stop to support me during the weekend, which was noted!!! After the race on the grandstand on the straight, when the people started to call my name… wow!!! That was very cool, really I felt loved and supported and I would like to say thanks (not only to them, but also to everybody who supports me) for doing this, I did not hope for it and I got it anyway… and above all it cheered me up and it made me think it wasn’t all bad, that the next time I would be stronger and fight hard to reach my objective, as soon as possible, in Portugal (good memories) I intend to be like always a 100% and fighting!!! Those of you who will be there have a lot of fun and those who can’t be there, I’m sure you’ll be supporting from home…
Ok people, I dismiss myself now, really many thanks for your support and encouragements and that sooner or later luck will be with us no??? ajjajajajjaja
A hug and a kiss!!!

A great demonstration of somebody who's got it all in perspective, and a perfect example of why we support him.
Let's hope Estoril brings us (and Bati) better...

Spanish GP: Alvaro Takes 250cc Pole At Jerez

Well, after yesterday's slightly middling sessions, today's FP2 practice (in which Alvaro as 1st) was followed up by a storming final qualifying session in which he nabbed pole very effectively.
Maybe it was that snazzy new helmet design that helped?! (pics of that to follow... it's very nice...)

In the post-qualifying press conference, Alvaro looked really, really happy - and couldn't stop grinning with one of his typically widescreen smiles. He said he hoped to follow up today's result with victory. He said yesterday they had a lot of problems - in the front particularly, he had no confidence, but that today was very good and the team had worked hard.
He thinks he has a good setting for tomorrow and he is happy to do well in Jerez - as it is a home race - and he hopes to do well for the fans.

Anyhoo - here's the results in full:

Spanish GP; Jerez, 250cc - Final Qualifying

1 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Mapfre Aspar Team APRILIA 1'43.071
2 Mika KALLIO FIN Red Bull KTM 250 KTM 1'43.198
3 Alex DEBON SPA Lotus Aprilia APRILIA 1'43.286
4 Thomas LUTHI SWI Emmi - Caffe Latte APRILIA 1'43.596
5 Julian SIMON SPA Repsol KTM 250cc KTM 1'43.629
6 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Red Bull KTM 250 KTM 1'43.640
7 Hector BARBERA SPA Team Toth Aprilia APRILIA 1'43.748
8 Roberto LOCATELLI ITA Metis Gilera GILERA 1'43.823
9 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA Metis Gilera GILERA 1'43.921
10 Mattia PASINI ITA Polaris World APRILIA 1'43.935
11 Yuki TAKAHASHI JPN JiR Team Scot 250 HONDA 1'44.022
12 Fabrizio LAI ITA Campetella Racing GILERA 1'44.032
13 Hector FAUBEL SPA Mapfre Aspar Team APRILIA 1'44.166
14 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing APRILIA 1'44.249
15 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Lotus Aprilia APRILIA 1'44.335
16 Alex BALDOLINI ITA Matteoni Racing APRILIA 1'44.754
17 Lukas PESEK CZE Auto Kelly - CP APRILIA 1'44.818
18 Manuel POGGIALI RSM Campetella Racing GILERA 1'44.854
19 Ratthapark WILAIROT THA Thai Honda PTT SAG HONDA 1'45.753
20 Eugene LAVERTY IRL Blusens Aprilia APRILIA 1'46.503
21 Manuel HERNANDEZ SPA Blusens Aprilia APRILIA 1'46.835
22 Imre TOTH HUN Team Toth Aprilia APRILIA 1'47.005
23 Doni Tata PRADITA INA Yamaha Pertamina Indonesia YAMAHA 1'47.989


*******************************************************************

Free Practice 2 - Results in full...

1 Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 1'43.379
2 Hector Barbera Aprilia 1'43.644 0.265
3 Alex Debon Aprilia 1'43.647 0.268
4 Hiroshi Aoyama KTM 1'43.718 0.339
5 Marco Simoncelli Gilera 1'43.864 0.485
6 Thomas Luthi Aprilia 1'43.866 0.487
7 Mika Kallio KTM 1'43.919 0.540
8 Julian Simon KTM 1'43.946 0.567
9 Aleix Espargaró Aprilia 1'43.955 0.576
10 Fabrizio Lai Gilera 1'44.079 0.700
11 Mattia Pasini Aprilia 1'44.375 0.996
12 Yuki Takahashi Honda 1'44.619 1.240
13 Karel Abraham Aprilia 1'44.666 1.287
14 Alex Baldolini Aprilia 1'44.864 1.485
15 Hector Faubel Aprilia 1'44.991 1.612
16 R.Wilairot Honda 1'45.002 1.623
17 Lukas Pesek Aprilia 1'45.013 1.634
18 Manuel Poggiali Gilera 1'45.500 2.121
19 R.Locatelli Gilera 1'45.584 2.205
20 Imre Toth Aprilia 1'46.075 2.696
21 Eugene Laverty Aprilia 1'46.585 3.206
22 Manuel Hernández Aprilia 1'47.269 3.890
23 D.T.Pradita Yamaha 1'48.243 4.864

Final Picture & Words From Qatar

And here's Bati's post-race quotes; some measured disappointment, but a typically mature perspective on it all...

"Today was our day, but bad luck made it a bad one. I have started well and went to the front without problems, but from the 9th lap on the back tyre began to slide and it has been very difficult to maintain the race lead.
Lap by lap the situation got worse because I could neither enter the curves nor open the throttle in the curves. Today we had that bit of bad luck and I hope that it does not happen again during the season. This lesson teaches us that it is not enough to have the bike perfectly set up, but that sometimes it is also necessary to be lucky. When I realized that the fight with Barberá was lost, I tried to give my best to finish in a good position."

End of chapter one.
Onto Jerez... ;)

Qatar GP - 250cc - Results

Well - I have to admit to being fairly gutted after Bati's excellent grid position was ultimately squandered due to a bad call on tyre compounds.
Alvaro ran with a softer front (as did Barbera, who also suffered though not to such a great extent) and his initial move up to P1 was soon undone, and he slipped back to 6th - losing all pace and impetus.
Very disappointing; not the kind of start to the season I think we had expected or deserved.
Let's hope Jerez sees something very different.


Here's the results in full...
Pos - Rider - Make - Time
1. Mattia Pasini Aprilia 40:16.202
2. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 0.557
3. Mika Kallio KTM + 1.029
4. Alex Debon Aprilia + 1.418
5. Yuki Takahashi Honda + 12.944
6. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia + 14.480
7. Karel Abraham Aprilia + 16.721
8. R.Locatelli Gilera + 18.987
9. Aleix Espargaro Aprilia + 32.232
10. Hector Faubel Aprilia + 41.102
11. Julian Simon KTM + 41.457
12. Fabrizio Lai Gilera + 41.694
13. R.Wilairot Honda + 43.192
14. Manuel Poggiali Gilera + 44.228
15. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 48.760
16. Hiroshi Aoyama KTM +1:11.031
17. D.T.Pradita Yamaha +2:05.461

*****************************************

Not Classified:

Rider - Make - On lap
Alex Baldolini Aprilia 14
Lukas Pesek Aprilia 12
Marco Simoncelli Gilera 7
Imre Toth Aprilia 4
Eugene Laverty Aprilia 0
Manuel Hernandez Aprilia 0

*****************************************

Fastest lap:
Debon, 1:59.379 on lap 20

Photos From Practice and QP1