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Worst... Commentators... Ever...

(*No, I don't look like him. I just sound a bit like him right now.)

Although I've got to be honest and say it was a pretty much perfect weekend - or it was in the end, despite a fluffed race start and despite the lack of a whole Quali session... Yes, a pretty damn excellent weekend overall, I cannot let it end without saying how it was almost spoiled as a viewer experience by the sit-in commentary team of James Haydon and Carlton Kirby on Eurosport.
I don't know exactly *why* Toby and Julian weren't doing the duties, but one thing is for sure - and that is that TV's commentary equivalent of a couple of mediocre supply teachers were no kind of worthy substitute.
Ex-racer James Haydon I'm aware of; decent studio talking head and okay on bikesport in general - as for Carlton Kirby (who sounds more like the name of a remote but picturesque Lincolnshire village) well I've not really had the pleasure before. And dear crikey, I hope it's a long time before they're handed the mikes of our beloved race coverage again.

Pronouncing Alvaro's name wrong constantly is always going to be a bit of a red rag to me, but I could easily let that go were it not for all the other problems. Clearly Sideshow Bob fans, they seemed barely able to hide / balance their adulation - so whenever he got passed early in the race, they told us he "let them through". Yeah... Right...
Having said that, they didn't seem to have much of a handle on who or where anybody was in the early laps anyway and repeatedly misidentified riders and positions.
And having just told us once again (with the aid of the onscreen notices we can all see) that Bati had just done another fastest lap, they suddenly came up with the revelation that he was the "man on the move". Durh.
And in assessing Simoncelli's performance they managed to acknowledge that it wasn't his wrist that had let him down, but his tyre. A bit of slightly more unflinching honesty might have carried that thought all the way through to the fact that *he* let that bloody tyre down.
Their mangling of the art of commentary wasn't restricted to 250cc either - the top class got a broadside of them; the renaming of Jorge to "George" Lorenzo being the highlight - though he can probably at least take comfort from being on the kind end of their awful clichéd sloganeering: "He may be number 99, but he'll be giving it 100%!" WTF!

Anyway, rant over. Nothing could spoil today. Bloody good try though.
You can only imagine that this was some very dark piece of humour from Dorna to get back at Eurosport for being so popular as to ruin their BBC exclusivity masterplan... "Okay you can have 2009 coverage, but only if you agree to allow James Haydon and Carlton Kirby to commentate..."
One of the few things I *did* enjoy hearing them say was that Toby and Julian will be back on-air at Jerez.
Thank you Jeebus, thank you!

Pics Of The Day: Japanese GP, 250cc, Motegi

I've picked the top shot just because from an arty-farty design point of view I think it's a great shot - nothing more, nothing less. The others are all just to show the deserved elation on our happy little chappy... :-)

Alvaro Bautista: Post-Race Quote, Moetgi, Japan

Here's Alvaro's post-race quotes...

"It was a rather difficult race for us, because we had nearly no practice time on Friday and Saturday. I started quite badly and had some riders on top of me on the opening corners, but soon I managed to get past and knew that I couldn't let Simoncelli escape. When I got up to third myself, Simoncelli and Aoyama were all together, and it was then that the wind picked up. Marco had a problem and that left myself and Aoyama, and I gave it my all to pass him. I am very satisfied with this result, and I think that it is an important victory that allows us to arrive at Jerez with our heads high. We have some good data for the race from preseason, and I hope to continue this way to give a win to the home fans."

An excellent race, despite another shaky "swallowed-up" start, but totally on the case and in control thereafter, relentlessly chasing everyone down and reaping some sweet benefit from Sideshow Bob's self-inflicted puncture and going on to take a splendid and utterly deserved win.
Triffick!

Alvaro Takes Victory In Japan

More words, pics and stats to come - but for now here's how it all panned out...

Pos | Rider | Bike | Time
1. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 44:06.488
2. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda + 5.889
3. Mattia Pasini Aprilia + 21.832
4. Gabor Talmacsi Aprilia + 25.906
5. Alex Debon Aprilia + 30.785
6. Shuhei Aoyama Honda + 33.788
7. Lukas Pesek Aprilia + 36.972
8. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 41.018
9. Karel Abraham Aprilia + 41.649
10. Shoya Tomizawa Honda + 52.863
11. Hector Barbera Aprilia +1:00.888
12. Raffaele de Rosa Honda +1:06.347
13. Imre Toth Aprilia +1:53.149
14. Kazuki Watanabe Yamaha + 1 lap
15. Vladimir Leonov Aprilia + 1 lap
16. Bastien Chesaux Honda + 1 lap
17. Marco Simoncelli Gilera + 1 lap
18. Aitor Rodriguez Aprilia + 1 lap

Retirements:

Rider | Bike | Laps
Ratthapark Wilairot Honda 18
Alex Baldolini Aprilia 17
Hector Faubel Honda 6
Mike di Meglio Aprilia 5
Axel Pons Aprilia 3
Jules Cluzel Aprilia 2
Roberto Locatelli Gilera 2

Alvaro 3rd On Grid After "non" Qualifying Session

The wisdom of planning GPs into countries' crap weather seasons has once again come into focus with the piss-poor joke of qualifying being null and void in Japan due to torrential downpours, after rain in the desert at Losail.
As such, Alvaro starts from 3rd spot on the grid; "qualifying" being based on the timings from yesterday's Free Practice sessions.

Here's what he had to say...
"Whenever this happens you always regret not pushing harder in the first session but we're on the front row and that will be important for us to make up positions in the first part of the race. I think we have a good setting for any condition so we just have to wait now and see what state the track is in tomorrow.
I felt good in the wet practice this morning - I just had a visibility problem towards the end and couldn't continue to improve my lap time, but the feeling with the bike was good. The objective will be to go out and give 100%, run at the front and take care to judge the track conditions correctly."

Good luck for the race, Bati :-)

Japanese GP - 250cc Friday Practice Times

Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Diff Previous

1 58 Marco SIMONCELLI GILERA 1'53.093
2 4 Hiroshi AOYAMA HONDA 1'53.695 0.602 0.602
3 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA APRILIA 1'53.836 0.743 0.141
4 75 Mattia PASINI APRILIA 1'53.940 0.847 0.104
5 40 Hector BARBERA APRILIA 1'54.497 1.404 0.557
6 35 Raffaele DEROSA HONDA 1'54.584 1.491 0.087
7 28 Gabor TALMACSI APRILIA 1'54.594 1.501 0.010
8 63 Mike DIMEGLIO APRILIA 1'54.595 1.502 0.001
9 15 Roberto LOCATELLI GILERA 1'54.757 1.664 0.162
10 6 Alex DEBON APRILIA 1'55.103 2.010 0.346
11 52 Lukas PESEK APRILIA 1'55.158 2.065 0.055
12 14 Ratthapark WILAIROT HONDA 1'55.208 2.115 0.050
13 12 Thomas LUTHI APRILIA 1'55.453 2.360 0.245
14 16 Jules CLUZEL APRILIA 1'55.538 2.445 0.085
15 55 Hector FAUBEL HONDA 1'55.588 2.495 0.050
16 17 Karel ABRAHAM APRILIA 1'55.724 2.631 0.136
17 73 Shuhei AOYAMA HONDA 1'55.929 2.836 0.205
18 25 Alex BALDOLINI APRILIA 1'56.017 2.924 0.088
19 59 Kazuki WATANABE YAMAHA 1'57.274 4.181 1.257
20 10 Imre TOTH APRILIA 1'58.727 5.634 1.453

*Not qualified (Out 107%) 2'01.009
7 Axel PONS APRILIA 2'01.044 7.951 2.317
56 Vladimir LEONOV APRILIA 2'01.447 8.354 0.403
8 Bastien CHESAUX HONDA 2'01.953 8.860 0.506
77 Aitor RODRIGUEZ APRILIA 2'03.437 10.344 1.484
48 Shoya TOMIZAWA HONDA 2'03.878 10.785 0.441

Alvaro Talks About Friday Practice, Japanese GP

3rd Álvaro Bautista 1.53.836 (18 laps):
"At the start I didn't feel too good on the bike and I couldn't brake hard in the slow corners. We improved in this area but on the cold track it was difficult to get a rhythm together. It was really cold today and we'll have to wait and see what happens tomorrow but we have to stay focused and put in 100% effort regardless of the conditions, there are no excuses.
The lap times aren't as fast as last year so there is plenty of room for improvement. It's the second race of the year and the goal is to pick up as many points as possible. With just one session on a Friday you have to work well, and quickly, and not take your eye off the ball otherwise you soon run out of time."

Alvaro Stars In New Mapfre Commercials

You have to get over to stv's Bati VLOG to see the full set of the brand new Mapfre commercials, featuring Alvaro as a bike. Yes, a bike. Look...



The ads can all be found here and here...

As with last year's ads, they also feature team boss Jorge Martinez as presenter, and are incredibly cute and clever.
Triffick!

Alvaro Looks Forward To Japanese GP

"I'm really excited about going to Japan and I hope the result is better for us than Qatar. We had quite a good race at Motegi last year and set the circuit record, so hopefully we can use the data to do a good job during practice and then carry that into the race. You need to be very good under braking at this circuit and even though it is not one of my favourites I know we can be fast and this has to be the most important thing. Hopefully our pace can be as good as it was in practice last year because I want to have a better race and go home with the win."

Japanese Grand Prix - TV Coverage On British Eurosport

24/04 05:00 - *LIVE* MotoGP, Eurosport
The Japanese Grand Prix 125cc practice session

24/04 06:00 - *LIVE* MotoGP, Eurosport
The Japanese Grand Prix MotoGP practice session

24/04 07:00 - *LIVE* MotoGP, Eurosport
The Japanese Grand Prix 250cc practice session

24/04 08:30 - MotoGP, Eurosport
The Japanese Grand Prix MotoGP practice session

24/04 13:00 - MotoGP, Eurosport
The Japanese Grand Prix MotoGP practice session

24/04 22:30 - MotoGP, Eurosport
The Japanese Grand Prix MotoGP practice session

25/04 05:00 - *LIVE* MotoGP, Eurosport
The Japanese Grand Prix 125cc qualifying session

25/04 06:00 - *LIVE* MotoGP, Eurosport
The Japanese Grand Prix MotoGP qualifying session

25/04 07:00 - *LIVE* MotoGP, Eurosport
The Japanese Grand Prix 250cc qualifying session

25/04 15:00 - MotoGP, Eurosport2
The Japanese Grand Prix MotoGP qualifying session

25/04 17:30 - MotoGP, Eurosport
The Japanese Grand Prix MotoGP qualifying session

26/04 04:00 - *LIVE* MotoGP, Eurosport
The Japanese Grand Prix 125cc race

26/04 05:15 - *LIVE* MotoGP, Eurosport
The Japanese Grand Prix 250cc race

26/04 06:30 - MotoGP, Eurosport
The Japanese Grand Prix MotoGP race

26/04 07:30 - MotoGP, Eurosport
The Japanese Grand Prix 250cc race

26/04 08:00 - MotoGP, Eurosport
The Japanese Grand Prix MotoGP race

Qatar GP - Post Race Quote From Alvaro

Alvaro Bautista -7th:
"It was a complicated race, the whole weekend had been going fantastically, but today's big storm really spoilt the party. From the start I went wide on the corner and I found it difficult to ride. I didn't feel comfortable at any moment, and it was hard to gain confidence. The end of the race saw my back tyre almost completely worn out, and I had to ride very carefully. Fortunately I was able to move up some positions, but I had to be very careful on the final laps.
I could have got on the podium, but the worn tyre made me drop down again. It's a pity, because things were going well, but we can only hope that we continue from qualifying and practice when we get to Japan. The circumstances were unique, and took us by surprise, as we had a track more like earth than asphalt."

Qatar GP - Alvaro 7th After Difficult Race

Well, a pretty dismal race for Alvaro really; and a result that will probably give great comfort to the missing Marco Simoncelli.
A dreadful start off the line (in a shortened 13 lap race delayed by damp conditions), back in about 6th or so at the first corner then 11th by the end of lap one - Alvaro then started a charge back (which appears to have shredded his tyres) that had him challenging for 3rd before a mugging from teammate Mike di Meglio which sent him stumbling back to 7th.
Not a good start to the season - not what any of us fans either expected or wanted.

RESULT:
1 Hector BARBERA SPA Pepe World Team APRILIA 26'50.940
2 Jules CLUZEL FRA Matteoni Racing APRILIA 26'51.766 + 0.826
3 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Mapfre Aspar Team 250cc APRILIA 26'57.121 + 6.181
4 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Scot Racing Team 250cc HONDA 26'57.549 + 6.609
5 Raffaele DE ROSA ITA Scot Racing Team 250cc HONDA 26'57.596 + 6.656
6 Thomas LUTHI SWI Emmi - Caffe Latte APRILIA 26'57.612 + 6.672
7 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Mapfre Aspar Team APRILIA 26'58.548 + 7.608
8 Ratthapark WILAIROT THA Thai Honda PTT SAG HONDA 26'59.289 + 8.349
9 Roberto LOCATELLI ITA Metis Gilera GILERA 27'05.972 +15.032
10 Gabor TALMACSI HUN Balaton Racing Team 250cc APRILIA 27'11.+ 20.348
11 Hector FAUBEL SPA Valencia CF - Honda SAG HONDA 27'11.405 + 20.465
12 Shoya TOMIZAWA JPN CIP Moto - GP250 HONDA 27'19.342 + 28.402
13 Lukas PESEK CZE Auto Kelly - CP APRILIA 27'19.846 + 28.906
14 Alex DEBON SPA Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens APRILIA 27'24.719 + 33.779
15 Alex BALDOLINI ITA WTR San Marino Team APRILIA 27'27.928 + 36.988
16 Bastien CHESAUX SWI Racing Team Germany HONDA 27'52.670 + 1'01.730
17 Imre TOTH HUN Team Toth Aprilia APRILIA 27'54.452 + 1'03.512
18 Vladimir LEONOV RUS Viessmann Kiefer Racing APRILIA 28'23.325 + 1'32.385
19 Aitor RODRIGUEZ SPA Milar - Juegos Lucky APRILIA 28'29.692 + 1'38.752

Alvaro Bautista - Quote After Quali, Qatar

1st Alvaro Bautista 2.00.677 (19 laps):
"I am happy to have got pole position despite the difficulties posed by the wind. At the start of the session it started to rain, and we didn't know if we'd have qualifying at all. We had a good pace but at the start I had to work a little bit. We tried a new tyre that didn't work out and then returned to what we had before. I was going round in a pace below 01.
Tomorrow's race will be complicated, as Aoyama will be up at the front and Barberá and Di Meglio will also have something to say. I expect a difficult race, but I want to have fun with it, and the important thing is that we have everything ready. In any case, we'll have the warmup for some final adjustments."