There’s a superb article by stv21 over at AlvaroBautista.co.uk – chronicling the history of Alvaro Bautista’s helmet designs throughout his MotoGP career.
And even better than that, you can also cast your vote on which is your favourite of all. Vote here…
It’s a fascinating feature and there’s lots of great pictures of the helmet designs; and I’m going to be very interested to see which lid comes out on top.
Enjoy! (And pass on!)
Congratulations to our young Talaveran friend Juanjo Nuñez on his excellent victory at the Circuito de Jerez at the weekend; romping home first in his 80cc race.
Also, as a member of the new Alvaro Bautista Fan’s Club, he did the honours of taking to the podium in the new Fan’s Club shirt and cap over his race kit in respect to his, and our, hero.
Top work Juanjo!
Congrats on the victory – and kudos on your podium style! 
2nd Álvaro Bautista:
“This second place tasted like victory for me. Obviously I know that first is always better, but we were really battling out there at 100%. Before the race I wasn’t sure of what my race pace would be like, not knowing if I could keep up, as during the practice sessions I couldn’t find the right pace.
In the warmup we worked on the setting and found a new configuration that I really liked, and when I saw the crowd I knew that I had to leave any excuses behind me and go for a good result. Jorge told me to remember 2007 just before I went out, and the motivation worked. At the end of the race I tried to take the victory, but it was a pity that Hiroshi is so fantastic on the brakes. I tried to do it later but it wasn’t possible, he was at the limit.
We finished second but it is almost a victory, and I learnt that we will never back down.”
Well, even though he wasn’t on the top step of the podium, Alvaro Bautista still looked pleased as punch today at Jerez where he came home second behind Hiroshi Aoyama in the 250cc Grand Prix.
It was a real ding-dong of a battle between the two of them in the closing laps, having shaken off Barbera and Simoncelli.
The cheering of the fans clearly got to Bati and he made big efforts to go and acknowledge them all across the main straight once he was off his bike, having already taken massive applause elsewhere around the track.
He really seemed on the defensive in the closing stages, his bike not nearly looking as sharp as the Honda which was – in the capable hands of Hiro – very very good indeed.
A great race. Not the best result. But still somehow a very positive day – and Alvaro’s reaction and conduct showing why he’s just the kind of guy you want to support – as cheerful and graceful in defeat (after a great, fair and hard battle) as he is in victory.
Nice work Alvarito. Nice work…
Here’s the results…
Pos | Rider | Bike | Time
1. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda 45m08.805s
2. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia + 0.132s
3. Marco Simoncelli Gilera + 2.706s
4. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 2.769s
5. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 17.946s
6. Mattia Pasini Aprilia + 17.950s
7. Gabor Talmacsi Aprilia + 26.288s
8. Jules Cluzel Aprilia + 26.472s
9. Roberto Locatelli Gilera + 27.646s
10. Raffaele de Rosa Honda + 32.369s
11. Mike di Meglio Aprilia + 32.617s
12. Shoya Tomizawa Honda + 34.241s
13. Lukas Pesek Aprilia + 36.889s
14. Hector Faubel Honda + 37.237s
15. Ratthapark Wilairot Honda +1m16.786s
16. Imre Toth Aprilia +1m25.509s
17. Bastien Chesaux Honda + 1 lap
18. Aitor Rodriguez Aprilia + 1 lap
19. Vladimir Leonov Aprilia + 1 lap
20. Valentin Debise Honda + 1 lap
Retirements:
Axel Pons Aprilia 22 laps
Ivan Maestro Aprilia 18 laps
Alex Baldolini Aprilia 10 laps
Alex Debon Aprilia 9 laps
Karel Abraham Aprilia 3 laps
4th Álvaro Bautista 1.43.451 (20 laps):
“It was very blustery this afternoon and it made it difficult to hold your line in the corners, but it was the same for everybody. We tried a few changes to the engine setting but the results were not what we’d hoped for and I couldn’t get out of the corners well.
I just tried to stay focused on getting the most out of my Aprilia and qualifying as high up the grid as possible. The front row is important and tomorrow we’ll go back to the setting we had yesterday, which we know works perfectly well.
There were a lot of fast guys out there today but we’ll have to wait and see how the race develops. Obviously the Spaniards will be giving everything because we all want to win. It will be a close race and whoever wants to win it will have to be prepared to fight all the way. Hopefully it goes right to the wire and it would be great if we had an all-Spanish podium.”
