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

Okay – well in a minor victory for common sense, the FIM has handed Simoncelli a warning over his riding today.
Whether it’ll make the slightest bit of difference to someone so unfeasibly ignorant we will have to wait and see, but it’s a start…
Here is the wording in full:

“On Sunday 31st May, during the 250cc race, rider Marco Simoncelli (ITA) rode in an irresponsible manner, causing danger to rider Alvaro Bautista (SPA), which is an infringement to the Art. 1.21.2 of the 2009 FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix Regulations. The Race Direction has decided to penalize rider Marco Simoncelli with a warning as to his future conduct, which means any further incident of the same nature this year may result in a suspension and to impose him a fine of USD 5,000.
No appeal has been lodged.
The decision of the Race Direction is final.”

“It started to rain on the grid, and we had to change bikes. The goal was to get more confidente in the wet, because we hadn’t practiced in it all weekend. I saw that I could chase Marco, so I got to work and caught him. I couldn’t see anything because of the rain, and decided to pass him then. Later on the corner he touched me and we ran off track, and I lost a lot of ground. I traed again, but then made a mistake in the chicane and lost my chance of the victory. I am happy to have kept on the podium and gone round fast in the wet, but annoyed at the way in which I lost the chance of the win.”

Pos | Rider | Bike | Time
1. Mattia Pasini Aprilia 45m38.391s
2. Marco Simoncelli Gilera + 0.117s
3. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia + 1.293s
4. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 24.557s
5. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 27.014s
6. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda + 30.037s
7. Alex Debon Aprilia + 31.325s
8. Hector Faubel Honda + 35.178s
9. Raffaele De Rosa Honda + 44.856s
10. Roberto Locatelli Gilera + 46.483s
11. Alex Baldolini Aprilia + 49.521s
12. Mike di Meglio Aprilia +1m00.539s
13. Karel Abraham Aprilia +1m23.730s
14. Ratthapark Wilairot Honda +1m25.519s
15. Imre Toth Aprilia +1m30.397s
16. Balazs Nemeth Aprilia + 1 lap
17. Axel Pons Aprilia + 1 lap
18. Bastien Chesaux Honda + 1 lap
19. Valentin Debise Honda + 1 lap
20. Daniel Arcas Aprilia + 3 laps

Retirements:

Shoya Tomizawa Honda 6 laps
Lukas Pesek Aprilia 5 laps
Vladimir Leonov Aprilia 4 laps
Jules Cluzel Aprilia 0 laps

“The truth is that the times are very close! Things didn’t go well this morning and I wasn’t comfortable on the bike. I didn’t have a good feeling with the front and couldn’t brake well or get into the turns as I like. We stiffened the front up a little for the afternoon and it felt like a different bike. I immediately recovered the good feeling I was missing this morning and felt I could do a low 1′52, which I managed. I think we’ve done a great job and our pace is good.
All of the riders on the front row are going to want to win at all cost, each of us for their own reasons, so it will be tough. I’ll try to get a good start and stay with the lead group but I’m sure it’s going to be a close battle like Jerez. It is highly satisfying to set pole but the gap between the front three is tight so the important thing tomorrow will be to stay focused.”

Alvaro took pole for tomorrow’s Mugello GP in a close-fought qualifying session, where he was happier with his bike’s front end setup than during the morning’s free practice session.
He shares the fron row with Aoyama, and Dumb & Dumber again – so it’ll be interesting to see what happens at the start. Hopefully Bati can get clean away, although his starts have not necessarily been the strongest so far this season.
Nonetheless, we know how he can come good during a race anyway, so let’s wait and see…

Suerte Alvaro

Here’s the full Qualy roster…

Pos | Rider | Bike | Time
1. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 1m52.804s
2. Marco Simoncelli Gilera 1m52.818s + 0.014
3. Hector Barbera Aprilia 1m52.842s + 0.038
4. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda 1m53.050s + 0.246
5. Alex Debon Aprilia 1m53.573s + 0.769
6. Thomas Luthi Aprilia 1m53.702s + 0.898
7. Ratthapark Wilairot Honda 1m53.811s + 1.007
8. Mattia Pasini Aprilia 1m53.875s + 1.071
9. Raffaele de Rosa Honda 1m53.941s + 1.137
10. Roberto Locatelli Gilera 1m53.988s + 1.184
11. Karel Abraham Aprilia 1m54.052s + 1.248
12. Jules Cluzel Aprilia 1m54.211s + 1.407
13. Hector Faubel Honda 1m54.351s + 1.547
14. Mike di Meglio Aprilia 1m54.363s + 1.559
15. Lukas Pesek Aprilia 1m54.375s + 1.571
16. Shoya Tomizawa Honda 1m54.992s + 2.188
17. Alex Baldolini Aprilia 1m55.461s + 2.657
18. Imre Toth Aprilia 1m56.201s + 3.397
19. Axel Pons Aprilia 1m57.574s + 4.770
20. Valentin Debise Honda 1m57.699s + 4.895
21. Vladimir Leonov Aprilia 1m58.464s + 5.660
22. Balazs Nemeth Aprilia 1m59.132s + 6.328
23. Daniel Arcas Aprilia 1m59.513s + 6.709
24. Bastien Chesaux Honda 1m59.617s + 6.813