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

As reported by stv21 on TeamAspar.net during the upcoming last round of the European Championship, held at the Albacete Circuit on November 1st, there will be a special ceremony to reveal the newly named curves 11 and 12. The two curves are part of one chicane and will be named after Alvaro Bautista and Julian Simon, in tribute to the two world champions from Castilla La Mancha and the impact they have on the sport for the region.

Invited guests to the event included former world champions and racing legends like Angel Nieto, Jorge Martinez, Manuel “Champi” Herreros, Emilio Alzamora, Carlos Cardús, Julián Miralles and of course the two honoured champions themselves.

I’m guessing that the curve name will be relating to the words Alvaro and/or Bautista rather than the more fun “Bati” or “Baster” options, but hey – brilliant – a genuine honour

Congrats Alvaro, congrats Julian.

A day back from the Spain trip and I’ve finally put live the new build of the www.TeamAspar.net website, which replaces the old blog page. Now that the team is getting bigger and expanding into the top class of MotoGP I reckoned that we needed to build a completely custom website – a fully-featured and content-managed solution.
That’s now been done, and all the old content from here has been imported, and you can find the new site at www.TeamAspar.net though the old blog will remain online as an archive for a while at least.

Hope you like the new site.
Cheers,
gb

Post-race Brno and Alvaro is confirmed by Suzuki as riding for them in the top class of MotoGP for the next two years.
Here’s their statement…

“Suzuki Motor Corporation is pleased to announce that Spaniard Alvaro Bautista will be joining its official MotoGP team in a two year agreement, to contest the 2010 and 2011 MotoGP World Championships…
Suzuki is very pleased to have achieved the signing of one of the brightest young stars in Grand Prix racing and looks forward to developing a strong relationship and exciting races with Alvaro Bautista.”

We’ll aim to bring you more quotes and reaction as it emerges, both here and on the BatiFans Forum where you can expect much discussion on the matter.

For those of us who want to see Alvaro go up into MotoGP with Aspar next season, this weekend looks like being the crunch.
There are reports around from the likes of Marca and GPOne that suggest Bati signed a pre-contract of some kind with Suzuki in the middle of 2008, and that a ride on the vacant Ducati seat in Aspar’s new MotoGP team is by no means a certainty.
Not only would breaking the pre-contract probably ensure a hefty financial penalty of some kind, but also it’s worth bearing in mind that the Rizla Suzuki team are a factory squad who have been given leave not to stick to the controversial “rookie rule” and there may well be benefits to a factory Suzuki ride over a “satellite” Ducati squad such as Aspar’s.

Nonetheless I think many of us would like to see the relationship with Jorge Martinez continue – and continue to develop. There would be a definite expectation of good support from both Ducati and Aspar himself, and of course there’s the possibility of the factory Ducati ride in 2011. And while the Ducati has been, let’s face it, a bit of a handful for pretty much everyone except Casey Stoner, Suzuki have hardly been setting the world on fire either.

There’s a lot to decide. And soon, as it’s suggested that meetings will happen between Martinez and Alvaro’s management on Thursday at Brno and that – whatever – Aspar will, as far as we’re aware, be definitely announcing his 2010 line-up this weekend.

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since the Dutch TT of 1984, when Jorge Martínez “Aspar” took on the role of team manager Derbi but still showed his qualities as a rider by taking his first ever victory in the 80cc class. The man he had to beat was none other than local favourite Hans Spaan, which only made his final-lap win even more exciting. Afterwards Ángel Nieto told him: “No matter how many races you have won, savour this moment because you will never forget it.”
Four world titles and no fewer than 36 victories later, the ‘Apsar’ who lined up on the grid in Argentina was an entirely different man to that 21-year-old who came of age ten years earlier at ‘The Cathedral’. Ready to race his notoriously difficult Yamaha and with more than one Japanese job at stake, the veteran made a final corner pass on Ueda to secure the final victory of his stellar career. Today Jorge Martínez “Aspar” celebrates again, having watched his team take their 200th podium no long ago he is now left to reflect on a century of victories.

His own 37 wins as a rider have been complimented by another 63 as the leader of the Aspar Team, now a standard-bearing organisation within the MotoGP paddock. The circuit was Donington and the rider lucky enough to take the milestone victory and forever form part of the glorious Jorge Martínez “Aspar” story was Julián Simón. Faubel made his mark with seven wins, Elías and Porto with six each, Fonsi with five and his cousin Pablo with the only victory of his career; each has contributed to the Aspar Team’s winning pedigree. However, it has been without doubt Álvaro Bautista, the team’s leading light in the 250cc class, who has been the main heir to Jorge’s legacy, taking sixteen victories so far in “Aspar” colours.
 The world of motorcycling has changed and continues to change dramatically since those early days – the circuits, the bikes, the way it is viewed. but one thing that has always remained is that youthful gaze of a fifteen-year-old who has never stopped dreaming despite the success and the inevitable passage of time…
 
 
Jorge Martínez “Aspar”:
“Who would have thought back in ‘79 when I started racing that I could end up in such a privileged position? Looking back on everything we have achieved since then makes me enormously proud and happy. It is incredible to think back to when I was a 15-year-old, when I started racing bikes, and I have never been separated from my life’s passion. I am enormously proud to have a team with six riders in the World Championship, with 200 podiums recently and now 100 victories. There have obviously been a lot of hard times with crashes, injuries, operations and lean financial periods – times when you feel like throwing in the towel. However, I think that one of the most important things in life is consistency, as well as self-belief and fighting for your dreams. I would like to thank all the people who have contributed to the success of this team, from the mechanics to the chief engineers and of course all the sponsors and brands who have worked with us and without whom we could have never reached this glorious milestone.”
 
Álvaro Bautista: 
“What more can I say other than that it is incredible to form part of this team. Everything I have achieved in my career has been here and I hope I can add to it. My objective is to win at least as many races as Jorge, to whom I will be eternally grateful for showing faith in me from the beginning.” 
 

The FIM has today released the full official version of the regulation changes based on their Jerez meeting of 28_03_09, as agreed by the Grand Prix Commission….

MotoGP Class

For immediate application (2009)

1. Engine restriction from Czech Republic Grand Prix included:
a) A rider can use a maximum of 5 engines until the end of the Championship.
b) New engines have to be sealed before use (practices, warm up, race).
c) A new engine will be deemed to have been used when the motorcycle exits the pit lane.
d) All used engines will have the exhaust ports additionally sealed at the end of each event.
e) A sealed engine can be reused at any time.
f) The penalty for using an unauthorised engine will be a deduction of 10 points from the total point of the Championship ranking of the rider concerned.
2. 2009-2010 tests: 8 days in total. Venues and days will be announced.
3. Ceramic composite materials shall not be permitted for brake discs and pads.
4. Any pressurised hydraulic powered system is not allowed. Also engine lubricating oil cannot be used for any other purpose.
5. Electronic controlled suspension shall not be permitted.
6. EGR (Exhaust Gas Re-circulation) shall not be permitted.
7. Testing with non-contracted riders is allowed at any track, at any time, but it is subject to the following limitations:
a) Only tyres coming from the Tyre Supplier are allowed, and not more than 240pcs. per Manufacturer can be used from the 1st of January to the 31st of December including after-race tests.
b) After the MotoGP season has started, testing before a race included in the MotoGP Championship is limited to 2 tracks, and no later than 14 days prior to the race.
8. Testing for contracted riders:
a) Contracted riders are allowed to 2 after-race tests. The tyres used by the contracted riders will not be counted.
b) The winter test ban will be extended up to January 31st.

For 2010

1. Only one machine can be used during each MotoGP event.
2. A rider can use a maximum of 6 engines for the entire Championship.
3. A new event schedule will be announced.
4. Carbon composite front brake discs must be of one diameter only and two types of mass. The diameter will be 320mm only.
5. The maximum fuel injection pressure is 10 Bar.
6. MMC (Metal Matrix Composite) & FRM (Fibre Matrix Material) shall not be permitted.
7. Temperature sensor for the tyre will not be permitted.
8. From 2010 to 2012, the rim width shall be limited to 2 sizes for front and 1 size for rear for each manufacturer. Wheels diameter shall be limited to 16.5 inches only.
9. Variable exhaust system shall not be permitted.
10. Variable Valve Timing system and Variable Valve Lift system powered by electric and/or liquid, shall not be permitted.
11. Connecting rod shall not be a hollow structure but less than 2mm oil pass tunnel is permitted.
12. Twin clutch system (known as DSG) shall not be permitted.
13. Automatic transmission shall not be permitted. But manual transmission assisted by small force shall be permitted.
14. Consecutive Variable Transmission shall not be permitted.
15. Only DORNA can supply GPS unit just for entertainments such as TV broadcasting, which can’t connect to CPU unit by any kind of system.
16. Electric/electronic steering damper system shall not be permitted.
17. Minimum weight of motorcycle shall be the existing one + 2 kg. (ex: 150 kg for 4 cylinders).
18. Only 5 persons can work on the machine in the pits.
19. Riders who enter the Championship for the first time (Rookies) must be entered by a non factory Team.

…………………………………………………………………….

WE SAY: You can end up dissecting rule changes, their motives and their likely outcomes till the cows come home. This is particularly so in respect of the genuinely “technical” regs.
However, there are a couple of clearly *standout* points here; one of which is crucial to fans and another is crucial to Alvaro Bautista fans…

Point 3 of the 2010 changes states that “a new event schedule will be announced”. From ideas bandied around so far, it seems very likely that this is destined to mean considerably less track time each race weekend. For fans who attend the races – and also for fans who follow the events on TV and online – the reduction in activity is a definite downer. And it has to be said that it is likely to have a negative effect on the racing too… riders and bikes need to acclimatise to the circuits and conditions over as much time as possible ahead of qualifying.
It could easily be argued in fact that insufficient preparation may even make events more dangerous. It seems to be a case of “cost cutting – but at what cost?”…

Point 19 of the 2010 changes states that “riders who enter the Championship for the first time (Rookies) must be entered by a non factory Team”.
The implications of this on Alvaro’s MotoGP career should be obvious, and I’m certainly not impressed. It should be left to the discretion, experience and intelligence of individual teams, managers and riders as to whether a particular individual is ready for a particular ride. We know that Jorge Martinez has been strategically planning a route into the top class for some time, and that of course Alvaro would be his prime choice of rider. Surely he, and not an arbitrary regulation, is the best judge of whether that’s right.
Let’s be honest, on the whole Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo made fine debut seasons in factory teams (apart form Jorge’s injuries, and Dani’s Estoril indiscretion!).
There’s no reason why Alvaro would not do even better of course, and I for one resent the idea that he could be prevented from making the most of his move up to the top class without a genuinely comprehensible reason….
There’s another take on this rule – from a broader and more political perspective; really good reading – here at motogpmatters which is less about the kind of partisan approach that I can’t help but suffer from, but which equally foresees all kinds of issues coming in close attendance to such a change.