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

Pos | Driver | Bike | Time
1. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda 40m44.008s
2. Hector Barbera Aprilia +4.424
3. Marco Simoncelli Gilera +10.339
4. Aleix Espargaro Aprilia +11.383
5. Roberto Locatelli Gilera +11.596
6. Alex Debon Aprilia +14.265
7. Karel Abraham Aprilia +17.982
8. Hector Faubel Honda +19.012
9. Rattapark Wilairot Honda +20.926
10. Raffaele de Rosa Honda +21.033
11. Mike di Meglio Aprilia +32.128
12. Lukas Pesek Aprilia +41.329
13. Alex Baldolini Aprilia +1:05.321
14. Valentin Debise Honda +1:12.451
15. Imre Toth Aprilia +1 lap
16. Vladimir Leonov Aprilia +1 lap

Retirements

Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 22 laps
Bastien Chesaux Honda 19 laps
Axel Pons Aprilia 16 laps
Toby Markham Honda 14 laps
Steve Bonsey Aprilia 13 laps
Mattia Pasini Aprilia 13 laps
Thomas Luthi Aprilia 10 laps
Jules Cluzel Aprilia 5 laps
Shoya Tomizawa Honda 0 laps

Less said the better quite frankly…
A brilliant run from Alvaro (on for second or first spot) cut short with about a lap to go when Hiro Aoyama amde a mistake in the final chicane, running wide and slowing right down only to come back onto the track to take out Alvaro who was on the correct line, very close behind.
It was an accident… yeah – I know… and it was by one of the *good* riders in the class… but that doesn’t stop it from hurting – particularly as Hiro was able to nurse his bike to the win swapping Bati’s 12 point championship lead over him to a 13 pint deficit. And that’s galling.

Anyway, here’s Alvaro’s words on the race…
“My plan was to take it right to the end with Aoyama, because I saw that in the final sector I was quicker than him and I could try a pass. I think that I could have done it, but maybe he had a problem with the bike that stopped him in the chicane. I ran into the back of him and couldn’t do anything. The crash is a pity because we could have taken at least twenty points, and the incident has lost us the leadership of the championship. We have to look at the good side though, we had a good race and showed that we are very strong. The results will keep coming if we keep working like we are now.”

Pos | Rider | Bike | Time | Laps
1. Hector Barbera Aprilia 1:40.019 22
2. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda 1:40.192 + 0.173 21
3. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 1:40.210 + 0.191 22
4. Marco Simoncelli Gilera 1:40.320 + 0.301 19
5. Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 1:40.796 + 0.777 21
6. Alex Debon Aprilia 1:40.830 + 0.811 20
7. Raffaele De Rosa Honda 1:41.023 + 1.004 21
8. Mattia Pasini Aprilia 1:41.055 + 1.036 21
9. Mike Di Meglio Aprilia 1:41.072 + 1.053 19
10. Lukas Pesek Aprilia 1:41.190 + 1.171 20
11. Ratthapark Wilairot Honda 1:41.235 + 1.216 20
12. Roberto Locatelli Gilera 1:41.347 + 1.328 20
13. Hector Faubel Honda 1:41.462 + 1.443 16
14. Karel Abraham Aprilia 1:41.533 + 1.514 22
15. Thomas Luthi Aprilia 1:41.545 + 1.526 21
16. Shoya Tomizawa Honda 1:42.038 + 2.019 19
17. Jules Cluzel Aprilia 1:42.628 + 2.609 14
18. Stevie Bonsey Aprilia 1:42.697 + 2.678 13
19. Alex Baldolini Aprilia 1:43.075 + 3.056 13
20. Axel Pons Aprilia 1:43.470 + 3.451 21
21. Valentin Debise Honda 1:43.653 + 3.634 19
22. Imre Toth Aprilia 1:43.913 + 3.894 20
23. Bastien Chesaux Honda 1:44.704 + 4.685 21
24. Vladimir Leonov Aprilia 1:44.743 + 4.724 17
25. Toby Markham Honda 1:46.758 + 6.739 14

“I had a few problems with the front end in corner entry this afternoon, which I think is because we were running a used front tyre and a new rear. About halfway through this afternoon’s qualifying we started to make some progress with the bike and I began to enjoy myself. In the end it was a good session, with a good pace, so I hope I can keep riding like I want to tomorrow in both the warm-up and the race. We were really close to pole but the most important thing was to be on the front row and we’ve done that. I’d like to improve the bike a little more before the race tomorrow just to be on the safe side but I think the fight will be between the same people as Barcelona, with Aoyama and Barberá both looking good. This morning we tried a few things with the front-end set-up and went down the wrong route at one point, which is what led to the crash, but I’m not worried because we know what the problem was.”

“To be honest the lap times weren’t particularly quick today. We had a problem at the start of the session and the rear of the bike was sliding around a lot – also the engine wasn’t working as it should be but as the session progressed we ironed things out. I’m still not completely happy with the rear of my Aprilia because it is not gripping and I can’t open the throttle when I want to. So that is mainly what we need to work on tomorrow and I’m convinced we can make big improvements. It’s not bad for the first day but we can’t afford to go to sleep tomorrow. Barberá and myself are a little ahead of the rest but that doesn’t mean anything because the pace will increase tomorrow. In our case we know where we can go faster and that is what we need to do in order for me to have fun on the bike.”