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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…

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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.

Saludos,
gb y stv21 (dueños del sitio)

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(In English…)

Cheers, 
gb & stv21 (site owners)

I’ve set up a Frappr Map – mainly for forum members, but anyone’s welcome really…
Just plonk a pin in the map to show where you are and to show just how far and wide Alvaro’s fanbase goes…
Frappr’s not as good as it used to be; in their “refinements” and “improvements” they’ve actually made things less intuitive and less smart / flexible – but it’s still a good way of mapping a community such as ours

The link is www.frappr.com/batifans

And here is a little embedded version anyway…

Come and join us on the map, and join us on the forum

It would be easy to feel a bit down about today’s race; Bati binning it whilst in a great 2nd position and a fine chance of finishing the season with a 1st.
(So easy in fact, that I’d admit to being a tad down about it myself…)

Nonetheless, whilst it’s easy to dwell on single results – especially at a season end where you’re in danger of remembering little else for the next few weeks – it’s far more healthy, and correct, to take a moment like now to put things in perspective:

Alvaro has performed brilliantly as a 250cc rookie. It’s his maiden season, and he took his first victory at six races in at Mugello. Not only was it a victory but it was a spectacular victory, filled with totally balls-out racing and a nerve-shredding last lap passing Lorenzo (who flung himself into some gravel in disgust) and de Angelis.
And amidst plenty of podiums he took a second victory at Estoril where he made up for a scrappy start by heroically carving through the field and simply heading off into the distance ahead of Lorenzo and Dovizioso.
He’s wound up 4th in the overall championship with a very creditable 181 points, and such a strong first season – and the evidence of our own eyes of how beautifully he rides and how passionately he races – suggests that next season will be even better.

Shit happens sometimes. As it did today. But do what Alvaro does; keep a smile on your face; cos he’s given us a brilliant season’s worth of excitement, and he’ll do it again in 2008.

Have a good rest and a good off-season Bati

And all you Bati fans out there – get over to our BatiFans.com Alvaro Bautista Fan Forum where we’ll be all winter till the next season comes. Come and chat with other fans, and join in with our fun and comeptitions; including some with excellent Bati prizes…

I’ve finally got round to finishing “Alvaro Bautista Campeón” – our BatiFans.com video.
It’s a 4:30 clipshow basically – a fast and funky edit to music that I’ve written and produced especially, using outtakes from old works by my band Smallcreep, reworked in Apple’s fabulous Garageband app. My mate Rob (the Robster) Jenkinson does the guitar, I’m doing the big gloopy bass parts on the Chapman Stick, and the rest of it is smaples, loops and breakbeats all mashed up to fit with the main riff.

The video itself is largely derived from clips I found on a Spanish DVD I bought from eBay; a 50 minute documentary about Alvaro – and I’ve tried to use a really good mix of on and off-track footage. It was knocked up in Final Cut Express – and as it was my first time working with FC it’s worth thanking Neil and Luke in particular for some incredibly useful tips and tricks.

As ever, Youtube has done a bit of a “scrunching” job on the footage, with some nasty bits of compression and totally wrecking the first few seconds.
Definitely go to www.alvarobautista.co.uk or www.batifans.com for the full high res quality version – and enjoy the full resolution 26Mb download; well worth it.
Nonetheless – please do give the Youtube one a few stars and a comment if you can, and do pass it on to other fans

Yahoo / Eurosport refers to “Brilliant Bautista” – saying that his victory today in Portugal was as good as the one that saw him win the 125cc race at the same circuit by 15 seconds a year ago.
Today’s race saw the 22-year-old Spaniard carve his way through the field relentlessly to pass Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo at mid-distance.

“I started worse, no, more than worse, and I tried to push as hard as I could,” said Bautista.
“When I passed a few I saw the podium near, but then when I was third I thought I must push some more because I saw Lorenzo and Dovizioso were not so far ahead.
“I tried to push more than 100 per cent to keep the distance and I’m just so happy to win this race. We’ve worked very hard in the team and this is for them.”

After a mediocre start – dropping from 6th to 12 in the first lap, Alvaro carved through the field in a gobsmacking display of genius and guts to take victory at Estoril today, ahead of Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo.
Reports, quotes and pics to follow – but for now, Thank You Alvaro for giving us yet another stunning race
You are simply awesome!

Race results – Estoril:

1. Bautista (Aprilia)
2. Dovizioso (Honda) +4.367secs
3. Lorenzo (Aprilia) +6.148secs
4. Luthi (Aprilia) +12.685secs
5. Barbera (Aprilia) +13.411secs
6. de Angelis (Aprilia) +13.440secs
7. Simoncelli (Gilera) +13.322secs
8. Simon (Honda) +13.634secs
9. Lai (Aprilia) +1min 12.253secs
10. Abraham (Aprilia) +1min 12.319secs