BatiFan Blog | The Alvaro Bautista Fan Blog | Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

Well, that’s basically it for this year. Alvaro’s title hopes ended this morning in the Sepang gravel, and even though he’ll surely be longing to deliver a win at Valencia to his fans it’s going to be little comfort in a season that had promised so much.
Whilst many of us always believed the initial “cert” status he seemed to be given for the title was unrealistic, we couldn’t have predicted the way the momentum and opportunity would desert him in the latter half of the season where mechanical failures, poor luck and – let’s be honest – unnecessary errors – combined to decimate his challenge.
It’s a shame as it would have been good to see him take a 250 title – and indeed, the last 250 title – before moving up to MotoGP and what must surely be another challenging season.
But it wasn’t to be.

RACE REPORT:

At 13:15 local time the lunchtime 250cc race took centre stage in Malaysia. The penultimate round of the series saw a surprise leader in the early stages, as Jules Cluzel took charge from the start. The favourites for victory were soon back in the picture, however, as the race pace upped rapidly under the sweltering heat. Hiroshi Aoyama clocked a new circuit record of 2′07.597, before tyres started to wear away and falls became a regular occurrence. That favoured a break for the top three, with Aoyama eventually taking victory. He holds the advantage in the overall standings, as the class becomes the only one of the three not to have a victor already decided.
 
Mapfre riders Mike di Meglio and Álvaro Bautista had a productive weekend that turned sour come Sunday. Once again the two were the victims of a certain amount of misfortune, and both hit the asphalt in race-ending crashes that ruined the hard work put in over the previous two days.
Alvaro made another bad start and worked hard at making a comeback through the field to try and take the lead. One lap after Di Meglio’s fall, it was Bautista who lost the front end on turn nine, ending his race and any chance of a title push.

Álvaro Bautista (DNF):
“Things were going more or less fine, and I had hooked up to the lead group after making up some places. I felt comfortable riding and wasn’t going at full gas, saving a little for the final push. This track is very demanding, and I wanted to be able to seize my opportunity and take the lead when it came around. My goal was to stay in the pack until then. I hit the bakes before going into turn nine, and I crossed the bars and was unable to avoid the crash. It is a pity, because in three races our chance of the title has gone up in smoke, as we gave our all but had some horrible luck. In Valencia I will try to enjoy the last race at home, and look to give the fans a good result to finish off the year.”

Pos Rider Bike Time/Gap
1. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda 42m55.689s
2. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 6.397s
3. Marco Simoncelli Gilera + 6.397s
4. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 14.871s
5. Hector Faubel Honda + 19.177s
6. Ratthapark Wilairot Honda + 19.567s
7. Alex Debon Aprilia + 20.255s
8. Lukas Pesek Aprilia + 34.561s
9. Alex Baldolini Aprilia + 50.937s
10. Shuhei Aoyama Honda + 1m04.186s
11. Balazs Nemeth Aprilia + 1m08.917s
12. Karel Abraham Aprilia + 1m10.616s
13. Valentin Debise Honda + 1m17.945s
14. Bastien Chesaux Aprilia + 1m29.669s
15. Vladimir Leonov Aprilia + 1m43.536s
16. Shoya Tomizawa Honda + 1 lap

Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap
1. Marco Simoncelli Gilera 28m17.403s
2. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 2.434s
3. Raffaele De Rosa Honda + 2.604s
4. Jules Cluzel Aprilia + 12.118s
5. Mike Di Meglio Aprilia + 12.192s
6. Karel Abraham Aprilia + 12.413s
7. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda + 12.455s
8. Hector Faubel Honda + 13.112s
9. Ratthapark Wilairot Honda + 13.560s
10. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia + 27.779s
11. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 28.222s
12. Lukas Pesek Aprilia + 28.657s
13. Alex Debon Aprilia + 33.892s
14. Shuhei Aoyama Honda + 38.779s
15. Shoya Tomizawa Honda + 40.529s
16. Balazs Nemeth Aprilia +1m23.200s
17. Bastien Chesaux Aprilia +1m24.298s
18. Imre Toth Aprilia + 1 lap
19. Valentin Debise Honda + 1 lap

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

If you’re not at Donington this weekend , then don’t miss the coverage on the BBC…

Saturday 25 July

Qualifying
1250-1600, BBC Red Button/online

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Sunday 26 July

125 and 250cc race
1220-1435, BBC Red Button/online

Race
1500-1630, BBC One/online

MotoGP Extra
1630-1700, BBC Red Button/online

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Right – well, BatiFans is off to the British GP at Donington this weekend.
We’ll be keeping you updated with all the news, stats, quotes and info as usual – plus we’ll be having our second annual meet-up of the BatiFans international fan group.
There’ll be an HQ on the infield all weekend and there will also be daily meet-ups for those who just want to drop by and say Hello (or possibly Ola, or something else…)
We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible and we’ve got some information up on the forum already as to the wheres and whens of the weekend. Click here to check maps and notes…

In the build-up we’ll continue with team and rider previews etc and we’ll be aiming to be online with you if you’re not at the track, and with you if you are!

Vamos Bati! Suerte