Seeing Red...

One thing that you’d notice immediately in testing photos from Jerez is the ‘striking’ new paint job on Alvaro Bautista’s bike. (Along with matching leathers - well, mostly matching; his gloves still seem to have the orange flashing from last year and have nothing to do with the livery, and he’s also appeared to retain his trademark bright yellow knee sliders).

And when I say ‘striking’ I’m being nice.
I really can’t say I like it at all - and I’m desperately hoping it’s nothing more than some kind of ‘interim’ livery and that come the Team Aspar presentation (mid Feb? it was mid Feb last year...) that we’ll see the good old blue and orange livery.
It’s not that I’m being lazy and can foresee having to repaint my websites at some point - though that IS a possibility - no, my main thing is that I just genuinely don’t rate it as a colour scheme.
It’s interesting to note that although Alvaro’s bike (and Hector Fabuel’s) run the red and white livery, the 125cc pictures I’ve seen show Talma on a bike that’s still running the blue Aspar livery, although with a dash of red here and there.

I like the Aspar blue. Well, the Aspar blues... they actually run two different variants of blue across 125cc (slightly teal) and 250cc (purer darker blue). It looks classy and it stands out. It has a richness that a stark red and white is never going to match.
Also, red bikes remind me of Fortuna - particularly if they’re Aprilias - and they remind me of Marlboro when they’re NOT Aprilias.
As you can see I’m not going to be a happy bunny if they run with the red.
And I’ll certainly be at home to Mr Grumpy if I have to repaint this site, alvarobautista.co.uk and BatiFans.com...

And don’t get me started on that dog-ugly new helmet design!!!

Jerez Test - 25/01/08

Info from Circuito de Jerez

Day 2
250cc
--------------------------------------------------
1.BAUTISTA, MASTER MAPFRE ASPAR - 41 - 1'43.589
2. LUTHI, EMMI CAFFE LATTE - 47 - 1'44.002
3. DEBON, LOTUS APRILIA - 42 - 1'44.045
4. KALLIO, RED BULL KTM - 56 - 1‘44.049
5. AOYAMA, RED BULL KTM - 56 - 1'44.104
6. ABRAHAM, ABRAHAM MOTORACING - 32 - 1'44.267
7. BARBERA, TEAM TOTH - 36 - 1'44.340
8. SIMON, REPSOL KTM - 50 - 1'44.479
9. SIMONCELLI, METIS GILERA - 60 - 1'44.535
10. ESPARGARO, LOTUS APRILIA - 49 - 1'44.566
11. PASINI, TEAM POLARIS - 45 - 1'44.615
12. FAUBEL, MASTER MAPFRE ASPAR - 41 - 1‘44.626
13. PESEK, AUTO KELLY-CP - 29 - 1'44.827
14. BALDOLINI, TEAM MATTEONI RACING - 34 - 1'45.030
15. LOCATELLI, METIS GILERA - 39 - 1'45.500
16. TOTH, TEAM TOTH - 40 - 1‘45.962
17. LAI, CAMPETELLA RACING - 53 - 1'46.284
18. POGGIALI, CAMPETELLA RACING - 35 - 1'46.314
19. LAVERTY, BLUSENS APRILIA - 32 - 1'47.363
--------------------------------------------------

Jerez Test - 24/01/08

Day one of three.
Info from Circuito de Jerez...

250cc
--------------------------------
1.-Alex Debon (Aprilia) 1.44.069
2.-T. Luthi (Aprilia) 1.44.193
3.-M. Kallio (KTM) 1.44.210
4.-H. Aoyama (KTM) 1.44.294
5.-M. Simoncelli (Gilera) 1.44.453
6.-A. Bautista (Aprilia) 1.44.530
7.-H. Barbera (Aprilia) 1.44.710
8.-K. Abraham (Aprilia) 1.44.822
9.-J. Simon (KTM) 1.44.964
10.-M. Poggiali (Aprilia) 1.45.438
11.-H. Faubel (Aprilia) 1.45.533
12.-I. Toth (Aprilia) 1.45.790
13.-L. Pesek (Aprilia) 1.45.864
14.-A. Baldolini (Aprilia) 1.45.944
15.-A.Espargaro (Aprilia) 1.45.951
16.-R.Locatelli (Gilera) 1.45.967
17.-F. Lai (Aprilia) 1.46.536
18.-D. Pradita (Yamaha) 1.51.068
19.-E.Laverty (Aprilia) 1.51.376
20.-R.Gómez 1.56.747
--------------------------------

MotoGP 2008 Riders & Teams (January update)

Okay, so with the announcement that there's apparently no Team Roberts in the MotoGP class this season (great shame, I *hate* small grids...) this is how the classes should stack up for March...


125cc

No-Rider-Nation-Team-Machine
5-EFREN VAZQUEZ-SPA-BLUSENS APRILIA JUNIOR-APRILIA
6-JOAN OLIVE-SPA-BELSON DERBI-DERBI
7-ALEXIS MASBOU-FRA-LONCIN RACING-LONCIN
8-LORENZO ZANETTI-ITA-SEEDORF KTM 125-KTM
11-SANDRO CORTESE-GER-EMMI - CAFFE LATTE-APRILIA
12-ESTEVE RABAT-SPA-REPSOL KTM 125cc-KTM
14-GABOR TALMACSI-HUN-BANCAJA ASPAR TEAM-APRILIA
16-JULES CLUZEL-FRA-LONCIN RACING-LONCIN
17-STEFAN BRADL-GER-GRIZZLY GAS KIEFER RACING-APRILIA
18-NICOLAS TEROL-SPA-WRB FONTANA RACING-APRILIA
21-ROBIN LASSER-GER-GRIZZLY GAS KIEFER RACING-APRILIA
22-PABLO NIETO-SPA-SCOT RACING TEAM 125cc-KTM
24-SIMONE CORSI-ITA-WRB FONTANA RACING-APRILIA
27-STEFANO BIANCO-ITA-WTR NO ALCOL TEAM-APRILIA
29-ANDREA IANNONE-ITA-I.C. TEAM-APRILIA
30-PERE TUTUSAUS-SPA-BANCAJA ASPAR TEAM-APRILIA
33-SERGIO GADEA-SPA-BANCAJA ASPAR TEAM-APRILIA
34-RANDY KRUMMENACHER-SUI-RED BULL KTM 125-KTM
35-RAFFAELE DE ROSA-ITA-SCOT RACING TEAM 125cc-KTM
38-BRADLEY SMITH-GBR-POLARIS WORLD-APRILIA
44-POL ESPARGARO-SPA-BELSON DERBI-DERBI
45-SCOTT REDDING-GBR-BLUSENS APRILIA JUNIOR-APRILIA
51-STEVIE BONSEY-USA-ARIE MOLENAAR RACING-APRILIA
55-HUGO VAN DEN BERG-NED-ARIE MOLENAAR RACING-APRILIA
60-MICHAEL RANSEDER-AUT-I.C. TEAM-APRILIA
63-MIKE DI MEGLIO-FRA-AJO MOTOSPORT-DERBI
69-LOUIS ROSSI-FRA-FFM HONDA GP 125-HONDA
71-TOMOYOSHI KOYAMA-JPN-SEEDORF KTM 125-KTM
73-TAKAAKI NAKAGAMI-JPN-I.C. TEAM-APRILIA
77-DOMINIQUE AEGERTER-SUI-AJO MOTOSPORT-DERBI
87-ROBERTO LACALENDOLA-ITA-MATTEONI RACING-APRILIA
93-MARC MARQUEZ-SPA-REPSOL KTM 125cc-KTM
95-ROBERT MURESAN-ROM-GRIZZLY GAS KIEFER RACING-APRILIA
99-DANNY WEBB-GBR-ARIE MOLENAAR RACING-APRILIA


250cc

No-Rider-Nation-Team-Machine
4-HIROSHI AOYAMA-JPN-RED BULL KTM 250-KTM
5-HECTOR FAUBEL-SPA-MAPFRE ASPAR TEAM-APRILIA
6-ALEX DEBON-SPA-LOTUS APRILIA-APRLIA
7-RUSSEL GOMEZ-SPA-BLUSENS APRILIA-APRILIA
10-IMRE TOTH-HUN-TEAM TOTH APRILIA-APRILIA
12-THOMAS LUTHI-SUI-EMMI - CAFFE LATTE-APRILIA
14-RATTHAPARK WILAIROT-THA-THAI HONDA PTT SAG-HONDA
15-ROBERTO LOCATELLI-ITA-SQUADRA CORSE METIS GILERA-GILERA
17-KAREL ABRAHAM-CZE-CARDION AB MOTORACING-APRILIA
19-ALVARO BAUTISTA-SPA-MAPFRE ASPAR TEAM-APRILIA
21-HECTOR BARBERA-SPA-TEAM TOTH APRILIA-APRILIA
25-ALEX BALDOLINI-ITA-MATTEONI RACING-APRILIA
32-FABRIZIO LAI-ITA-CAMPETELLA RACING-APRILIA
36-MIKA KALLIO-FIN-RED BULL KTM 250-KTM
41-ALEIX ESPARGARO-SPA-LOTUS APRILIA-APRLIA
45-DONI TATA PRADITA-INA-YAMAHA PERTAMINA INDONESIA-YAMAHA
50-EUGENE LAVERTY-IRL-BLUSENS APRILIA-APRILIA
52-LUKAS PESEK-CZE-AUTO KELLY - CP-APRILIA
54-MANUEL POGGIALI-RSM-CAMPETELLA RACING-APRILIA
55-YUKI TAKAHASHI-JPN-SCOT RACING TEAM 250cc-HONDA
58-MARCO SIMONCELLI-ITA-SQUADRA CORSE METIS GILERA-GILERA
60-JULIAN SIMON-SPA-REPSOL KTM 250cc-KTM
75-MATTIA PASINI-ITA-POLARIS WORLD-APRILIA


MotoGP

No-Rider-Nation-Team-Machine
1-CASEY STONER-AUS-DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM-DUCATI
3-ALEX DE ANGELIS-RSM-HONDA GRESINI-HONDA
4-ANDREA DOVIZIOSO-ITA-JIR SCOT TEAM-HONDA
5-COLIN EDWARDS-USA-YAMAHA TECH 3-YAMAHA
7-CHRIS VERMEULEN-AUS-RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP-SUZUKI
13-ANTHONY WEST-AUS-KAWASAKI RACING TEAM-KAWASAKI
14-RANDY DE PUNIET-FRA-HONDA LCR-HONDA
21-JOHN HOPKINS-USA-KAWASAKI RACING TEAM-KAWASAKI
24-TONI ELIAS-SPA-TEAM ALICE-DUCATI
26-DANI PEDROSA-SPA-REPSOL HONDA TEAM-HONDA
33-MARCO MELANDRI-ITA-DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM-DUCATI
46-VALENTINO ROSSI-ITA-FIAT YAMAHA TEAM-YAMAHA
48-JORGE LORENZO-SPA-FIAT YAMAHA TEAM-YAMAHA
50-SYLVAIN GUINTOLI-FRA-TEAM ALICE-DUCATI
52-JAMES TOSELAND-GBR-YAMAHA TECH 3-YAMAHA
56-SHINYA NAKANO-JPN-HONDA GRESINI-HONDA
65-LORIS CAPIROSSI-ITA-RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP-SUZUKI
69-NICKY HAYDEN-USA-REPSOL HONDA TEAM-HONDA

Excellent News On Alvaro Bautista 2008 PDF Calendar / Calendario

Great news on our PDF BatiCal - the superb BatiFans.com 2008 Alvaro Bautista calendar download - it's now been taken by over 700 fans; great news in such a short time since its launch late last year.
Make sure you download a copy too, for keeping on your Mac or PC desktop and for printing out onto some nice glossy paper and putting up on the wall.

Click here for full info and download...

All Your Favourite Riders Are Now In Our New MotoGP E-Cards Section

In a major new initiative, we have added a big second section to our E-Cards pages over at alvarobautista.co.uk.
Now, not only can you send our fab Alvaro Bautista E-Cards, but you can also send E-Cards of all your other favourite riders too.
We have added a big selection of 96 E-Cards of riders from across all classes; MotoGP, 250cc and 125cc.

We've tried to include as many favourites as we can, covering both action shots and really cool portraits of the guys on and off their bikes. We couldn't really include *everybody* - but we hope we've made a good selection and that you will send plenty of cards to your friends, and that they in turn will send cards to their other friends too!
The URL to go to (and to pimp to everybody!) is:
www.alvarobautista.co.uk/postcards

Here's a list of the riders we've included:
Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Loris Capirossi, John Hopkins, Nicky Hayden, Dani Pedrosa, Colin Edwards, Chris Vermeulen, Anthony West, Randy de Puniet, Marco Melandri, Tony Elias, Jorge Lorenzo, James Toseland, Sylvian Guintoli, Alex de Angelis, Andrea Dovizioso, Hiroshi Aoyama, Hector Faubel, Thomas Luthi, Ratthapark Wilairot, Roberto Locatelli, Hector Barbera, Mika Kallio, Aleix Espargaro, Lukas Pesek, Marco Simoncelli, Julian Simon, Mattia Pasini, Joan Olive, Sandro Cortese, Esteve Rabat, Gabor Talmacsi, Nicolas Terol, Simone Corsi, Pere Tutusaus, Sergio Gadea, Bradley Smith, Pol Espargaro, Shuhei Aoyama,...

Enjoy, send, share... and spread the word about the coolest bunch of MotoGP E-Cards on the web!
Enjoy :)

MotoGP 2008 'Calendar' Desktop Wallpaper

I've done a very general 2008 MotoGP "Calendar" wallpaper - hopefully a nice download for a fan of any rider...
It's a blue-ish design with grids and dots making up a world map and a semi-opaque treatment of a big bunch of MotoGP bikes sweeping into a corner overlaid on it.
It's completed by a text listing of all the dates and locations of the 2008 MotoGP season.
Click here to find it in our MotoGP / 250cc / 125cc section over at BatiFans.com

Enjoy :)

Alvaro Bautista iPhone Wallpapers

The latest cool download for all our freindly Bati fans around the world, is aimed at those of them who have iPhones...

We've done a small bundle of wallpapers designed specifically for the iPhone - to the exact screen size and resolution, and also holding a relatively blank are towards the top for when the image is partially covered by service information when waking from sleep.

Click here for full info, previews and the download link...

Enjoy :)
gb

Noticias importantes o fans Españoles del Alvaro Bautista

So what's that all about then?
Simple really - we want to ensure that Spanish Alvaro Bautista fans - who may not be comfortable with their English skills - are welcomed and looked after over at BatiFans.com

We've introduced some changes, and here they are outlined in Spanish - with an English translation afterwards...


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


Aunque nuestro Alvaro fan foro es “internacional” y está principalmente en inglés, hemos hecho algunos cambios para usted - nuestros miembros españoles; y esperamos que usted tenga gusto de éstos y eso pueden ayudarle a gozar de nuestro foro más, y también ése usted puede fijar mensajes debido a éstos.

1 – Ahora usted puede cambiar los ajustes de la lengua del foro al español - usted puede hacer esto en su “Profile”, aunque éste no traduce los mensajes y los posts de la gente a español.
2 - Hemos agregado un “Google Spanish translation” link a todas las páginas en el foro. Esto está cerca de la header de la página, y tiene banderas inglesas y españolas al lado de las palabras "Translate into Spanish / Traducir al Espanol”. Clicando en esto traducirá todos los mensajes en el español para usted, y esperamos que esto le dé mucho más el disfrute de nuestro foro.
3 - Hemos agregado un thread especial de "Hola" para todos nuestros miembros españoles que no son cómodos escribir en inglés. Lo amaríamos si usted escriba un mensaje aquí (en español si usted deseo), para decir hola a otros fans y para introducirse, y para decirnos un poco sobre usted.

El link está aquí...
http://www.batifans.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=4135

Nosotros espera que estos cambios le ayudarán a disfrutar de nuestro foro más, y esperanzadamente nos trae todos juntos más como los fans y amigos.

Saludos,
gb y stv21 (dueños del sitio)



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

(In English...)

Although our Alvaro fan forum is ‘international’ and is mainly in the English language, we have made some changes for you - our Spanish members; and we hope you will like these and that they may help you enjoy our forum more, and also that you may post messages because of these...

1 - You can now change the language settings of the forum to Spanish - you can do this in your ‘Profile’, although this does not translate people’s messages and posts into Spanish.
2 - We have added a Google Spanish translation link to all pages on the forum. This is near the top of the page, and shows English & Spanish flags next to the words “Translate into Spanish / Traducir al Espanol”. Clicking on this will translate all the messages and chat into Spanish for you, and we hope this will give you a lot more enjoyment of our forum.
3 - We have added a special “Hola” topic for all our Spanish members who are not comfortable posting in English. We would love it if you posted a message here (in Spanish if you wish), just to say Hello to other fans and to introduce yourself, and tell us a little about you.
The link is here...
http://www.batifans.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=4135

We hope that these changes will help you to enjoy our forum more, and hopefully bring us all together more as fans and friends.

Cheers, 
gb & stv21 (site owners)

COMPETITION: Designers Wanted!

Any Alvaro Bautista fan who fancies getting their work out on the web, and who fancies a cute little golden '19' pin badge, should go over to BatiFans.com and check out our latest competition...

We're going to be affiliating with some official MotoGP riders websites/forums and as part of this there will be a 'button' exchange - we will have little graphic buttons somewhere on our pages and so will the other forums.
So - the competition is to design a small, very groovy, graphic button (100 pixels wide by 35 pixels deep) featuring a pic of Alvaro (action? portrait? up to you...) which may be graphically treated in any way and which also features the words "Alvaro Bautista". Any BatiFans.com forum member can enter.

The winner will get a very cool, very rare, little metal '19' badge pin which looks great in a jacket or shirt.
There's a topic with further details here...
Good luck if you plan on entering :)
Closing date is 12/01/08

Happy Christmas Alvaro - & All The Bati Fans Out There

Well; this is really just a kind of very general, off-topic post to say a Happy Christmas to all the other Bati fans out there.
Obviously there's not really much in the way of direct news about Alvaro right now, so I'm not doing much updating on the blog.
That's not to say I'm not online or doing Bati-related things; we'll definitely be keeping up the chat over at BatiFans.com - The Alvaro Bautista Fan Forum - especially now stv21's back from the USA and I'm back from a quick and heavenly hot break in west Africa.

I got back to London at 4am on Saturday and following a frenzy of unpacking and re-packing came up to Lincolnshire yesterday on a very chilly, very early morning journey through freezing fog, to spend Xmas with my folks.
My MotoGP season review DVD has arrived so I'm looking forward to sitting down at watching that, although I'd really have liked to get the 250cc/125cc review first.
So a few days up here, and getting used to the cold again - then back to London inn time for new year.

So that's it really... Have a great Christmas - and let me be the first to give you a quick festive snog under the mistletoe which I've conveniently and sneakily hung at the top of this post. No tongues though... lol :)
Happy 2008 to you, and for Alvaro of course, who I'm dying to follow through another great season. Can't wait for it all to start again!

Cheers,
gb

Away on Holiday!

Right - well I'm off to sunny, hot, fab Gambia for a week before Christmas hits us.
If you want any breaking Bati news, or MotoGP chat in general then go to the Alvaro Bautista Fan Forum at BatiFans.com where all our special Christmas downloads - wallpapers, icons, videos and pictures - are already online; special treats for special fans of the very special Alvaro Bautista :)

Christmas Is Coming For Alvaro Bautista Fans

If you're a Bati fan, then you should get over to our Alvaro Bautista Fan Site & Forum as we've got some really cool Christmas prezzies coming up in the next few days for our members.
Can't really say much more that that, or it'll spoil the surprise :)

'Historias Sobre Ruedas' Clips on Youtube

Go check out the videoclips posted by GaSa34 on Youtube for some cool clips of some of MotoGP's nice guys (and in lower classes too, not only the main MotoGP class, but also 250 and 125).
There's short documentaries (in Spanish) from a series called 'Historias sobre ruedas' on riders such as Andrea Dovizioso, Hector Barbera, both Aleix and Pol Espargaro and Aspar's 125 squad newbie for 2008, Pere Tutusaus (who's in the clip above)....