Day to forget for Rizla Suzuki at Brno

Rizla Suzuki had its promising start to the weekend shattered at Brno today as firstly John Hopkins had to withdraw from the event and then Álvaro Bautista had a difficult qualifying session to leave him with a mountain to climb in tomorrow’s race.

Bautista will start from the fifth row of the grid after he failed to make a competitive lap-time and will need one of his great starts to be able to challenge with the front-runners in tomorrow’s race. He has a consistent race pace and was able to stay with other riders in the earlier part of the qualifying session, but was unable to put together a fast lap to move him up the grid as the session came to its climax.

Hopkins was forced to withdraw from the weekend’s event following a crash in this morning’s wet practice session. It has now been confirmed that he has broken three fingers on his right hand, but he will remain at Brno to support the team, before returning to America on Monday to have surgery to repair the damage.

Today’s qualifying was held in dry, but overcast conditions with track temperatures reaching 30ºC. Dani Pedrosa took pole position on his Honda, with reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo second and current championship leader Casey Stoner third.

Tomorrow’s race is round 11 of the 2011 MotoGP World Championship and the excitement gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT).

Álvaro Bautista:

“I am not happy with the qualifying because we just didn’t get our best level today and we will have to start tomorrow near the back of the grid. My rhythm was not too bad when I followed other riders and I could stay with them, but to be able to do that in the race I have to make a good start again tomorrow and fight my way through. I can’t say much more because I am just not happy with how things went today.

“It was not a good day for the whole team with John crashing this morning and breaking his fingers. I feel very sorry for him because he did well yesterday and it looked like he’d have a good race. MotoGP racing is not always what you want it to be and these things happen, but I wish him a speedy recovery and hope he’s back soon.”

John Hopkins:

“I guess disappointed is the only word that can sum up how I feel! I must apologise to the whole team for making such a stupid mistake out there this morning. It was the smallest crash under braking in the wet conditions and as I slid along I kept my hand on the ground to try and slow me down, but as soon as I hit the gravel it went in and mangled my hand right up. I’ve fractured three fingers on my right hand. The index and middle finger are just normal fractures that probably wouldn’t have kept me off the bike, but the third finger has separated and split down the middle from the knuckle. It’s not a case of pain, strength or anything like that, it’s simply that I can’t bend the finger or both bones could come through the skin, so it would have been impossible to hold on to the bike.

“I think things went very well yesterday and I had every intention of being able to make another step forward today. I believe that the GSV-R is every bit capable of a consistent top-six finish and I think it’s a great machine. With the lack of seat time I’ve had, I don’t think that I could have matched the potential of what the bike is capable of doing. I know I didn’t yesterday and I think it still has another second a lap in it. I wish I could have gone out and achieved a good result for all involved and mainly to show Suzuki that they have a really good machine which has great potential.

“This is just another small setback in my journey to get back to full time MotoGP. I’ll stay here the rest of the weekend and give my full support to the team and do whatever I can to express my gratitude to them for giving me this opportunity. This is not the last time you’ll see me at a Grand Prix, I’m still destined to be back here, whether it’s this year or next I don’t know, but I will be back here!”

Paul Denning – Team Manger:

“Grand Prix racing isn’t easy and today showed that! Yesterday we were looking very strong with lap-times in the 57s and both riders in the top-10. Today John is in a cast and Álvaro’s qualified 14th and almost half-of-a-second slower than yesterday afternoon. We did have an issue with a vibration at the end of the qualifying, but frankly speaking, we expected a much better time than that earlier in the session when he had a brand new set of tyres. We all know how well he can race, but if we don’t qualify better we won’t be able to improve the race result.”

Strong start from Rizla Suzuki boys at Brno

Bautista completed 32 laps at Brno circuit, recording a best time of 1’57.857 and grabbing eighth place on the leader board. Bautista was regularly in touch with the top six throughout both of Friday’s practices and is confident that with a few more adjustments to his GSV-R he can make further steps forward on Saturday.

Hopkins is appearing as a wild card at Brno and proved himself capable in both practice sessions. In the morning he signaled his intentions by finishing in seventh place and followed that up in the afternoon with an equally impressive 10th. His best time of 1’57.880 was only .023 seconds behind his team mate and just over three tenths of a second away from a top five finish. Hopkins knows he still has a lot of work to do, but is convinced there is still more to come from him and his machine.

Álvaro Bautista: 

“Today was my first full MotoGP day at Brno when fully fit, so I am pleased to have done that. Last year I crashed in the second free practice and the rest of the weekend was quite hard for me. The first thing today was to get a good feeling with the bike, but this morning I felt the bike slide a bit in the corners, this might have been because the track was a bit dirty, but we made a change that also helped to improve the problem. I can do a long run with used tyres and after 26 laps my rhythm was good and I could do low 58s. We then put in a new front and rear tyre and I was able to push a bit more, but I found some traffic on the last laps and I couldn’t improve my time. I am happy with today because I have done the fastest lap I’ve ever done at Brno, my previous best was 59.1 and today I did 57.8 so that is a good improvement. I have a good feeling with the bike and I’m sure we can improve the rhythm and the lap-time, so on Saturday we will work on a couple of things to do that. I am really looking forward to tomorrow because I think we can make a good position in qualifying to get a good start in Sunday’s race.”

John Hopkins: 

“First of all, I want to give a massive thanks to Suzuki, Paul Denning, Rizla, Fixi and all the other sponsors that have made this possible. The have all helped to ensure that the team has two bikes here at Brno, so once again thanks to all concerned. It’s been a big culture shock today, the most elite riders in the world are all packed in the MotoGP field, but it has still been a good day for us. When I rode in Jerez my mindset was still with prototype racing, because I hadn’t quite got into Superbike riding, but all this year I’ve got very comfortable with a Superbike and so coming into this weekend I was a bit afraid it would all feel totally different and I couldn’t ride a GP bike anymore – luckily that wasn’t the case! I tried to get comfortable this morning and follow as many people as possible, because to be honest I need as much help as I can get at the moment! I was well within the top 10 this morning and I managed to follow Álvaro and he showed me some lines – which was really cool – I was very happy with that, and the fact that he didn’t get upset and just let me follow. This afternoon we tried a few things with the bike to see where we could improve, but we never really went too far away from the set up we had this morning. We used a couple of tyre variations to see how they worked and that gives us something to go on for the rest of the weekend. I did a quicker lap today than my best lap here before, which was in the race in 2007, so that was a good thing. I’ll now sleep with the track on my mind and come back a lot better tomorrow morning, I’m sure if I can get more comfortable on the bike and find a rhythm, then I can get at least half a second of my time from today.”

Rizla Suzuki press release.

MotoGP buzz back on with Brno press conference

Refreshed and ready for their imminent return to action after a two-and-a-half week interval since Laguna Seca, the MotoGP class returns to the track on Friday morning for the opening session of the Cardion ab Grand Prix Ceské republiky.

Discussing the 11th round of the 2011 campaign on Thursday afternoon at the Brno circuit were a quintet of premier class riders, who attended the official pre-event press conference as the Czech venue prepares to get the second stretch of the season underway.

Thanks to his impressive win at Laguna Seca last time out – his fifth of the year – Casey Stoner heads into this weekend 20 points clear of defending World Champion and closest current rival Jorge Lorenzo in the standings, as he aims to protect his lead at the top of the Championship.

“We went into the break with a good result and so far it’s been a fantastic season. We’ll now just have to see how this weekend goes and the second half of the season,” said the Repsol Honda rider. “This is definitely one of my top three circuits and I have a lot of fun coming here, I like the area and I’m really ready for this race. I think it’s going to be a good one for us. At the moment a few of us are consistently running up at the front and between myself and Jorge it’s a battle week by week to see who takes points off who.”

Stoner will also stay on for the official test on Monday, in which he will continue the development of Honda’s 2012 prototype machine.

“I’m looking forward to another 1000cc test,” he explained. “It’s going to be a lot of fun coming to another circuit. Jerez was a nice test at a track that’s never really suited my style but I did surprisingly well there and we felt good with the bike. We’ll see how we go at this test and how it all compares on a different circuit.”

With the Japan GP in October a continual subject of discussion amongst riders and the media, and with the recent release of the report commissioned by the FIM and Dorna which confirmed that the GP is still scheduled to go ahead, Stoner gave his latest stance on the matter.

“There was a period after Silverstone that I felt very strongly that I wasn’t going to go to Japan after things I’d seen and heard,” he said. “That came from a very strong sense of emotion after we found out that Adriana (Stoner) was pregnant. We’ve discussed it a lot since then and that’s a huge thing that’s happened in my life and now the most important. So I felt that the best thing I could do at that time was to make my mind up. There was no way I was going to risk my wife or my family and it was very tough.”

“In these weeks I’ve taken a lot of data from Australia, people we feel we can trust on the matter, and I’m now slightly more open to it than I was before. I think people can understand I was taken a little bit with my safety and that of my family in this matter. We’ll see in these next weeks, we’ll continue talking and try and find out as much information as we can. I’m not saying that I am going, but I’m not saying that I’m not. So we’ll just have to see what happens in the near future.”

When the other four riders present were asked about their opinions they commented that they would also wait further before making a firm decision, with a riders’ Safety Commission meeting planned for Friday.

Following Stoner’s comments Lorenzo was the next to speak, and the Factory Yamaha rider’s focus ahead of this weekend was clearly on closing his rival’s advantage.

“We know it’s going to be very hard work because he is riding so fast this year, so consistent, and has a good bike. But we are doing a lot, the bike is – I think – a winning bike, I am in good shape. From this moment in the season we have to try and improve the bike a little more so I think it’s going to be an interesting second part of the season,” he commented.

“In theory this is a good track for us, for the bike and my riding style, it’s a track that can be good for us,” added Lorenzo about Brno, where he won last year. “But this is just a theory. We must wait and see what happens during the weekend. The test on Monday is also going to be really important, it will be the first time I try the new bike. I have never tried a bike like that with such a powerful engine. We will see if I have to change my riding style for the bike.”

The Brno circuit holds special memories for Valentino Rossi as the site of his first GP win back in 1996, when the Italian took a 125 victory, and he said: “It’s already 15 years since the first win, which was here, so great memories!”

Looking ahead to this weekend at a circuit at which he has five wins and three second-placed finishes in the premier class, Rossi continued: “Jeremy (Burgess, crew chief) came back at Laguna Seca, we missed him a lot in Mugello and Sachsenring, and we decided to continue with this bike (the Ducati Desmosedici GP 11.1). We expect more improvements compared to the old one, but we have to work hard, Ducati are working hard to improve all the areas we are having problems in. Fortunately on Monday we have a test, so we hope for good weather and we have a lot of work to do.”

“Laguna was a better weekend for me and my team, I started from the third row and had a normal race for what is our potential at the moment,” he added. “It looks like we are not so slow at the end of the race on used tyres, we are slow at the beginning so we need to raise our potential and work on that for qualifying.”

Riding in his home race in the premier class for the first time this weekend, Karel Abraham will have the expectations of the crowd upon him and the rookie acknowledged the significance of this round.

“Of course this is a really important GP for me as it’s my home race, there is a lot of pressure and nobody means it in a bad way. We need to get a lot more experience than we have now, but with every lap we ride with the other riders we are doing that,” he said.

“We are happy so far with the season, of course we‘ve had some crashes which we’re not happy with but that happens when you’re pushing your limits. We will just try to have a good weekend and race, fight with some riders and then after the chequered flag we’ll say whether it was a good or bad race.”

Joining the other four rider was Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista, who is gaining confidence with every improvement made on the GSV-R this season.

“It’s not my best season this year but after the crash and the injury I can say I’m at my top level and can enjoy riding the bike and can reach the limit,” he stated. “The bike is much better than at the beginning, I’ve had some great battles like the one with Valentino in Sachsenring, and I’m looking forward to continuing this way this weekend.”

Bautista will be riding alongside wild card entry John Hopkins this weekend, something he hopes will benefit both himself and the team.

“I hope it’s good for me, if he’s slower than me for sure it’s good for me! It’s good for the team to have two bikes on the track and to have the opportunity to compare between two riders, because it’s difficult with one rider to test everything throughout a weekend,” he concluded.

Rizla Suzuki back to double strength for Brno

Alvaro Bautista is looking forward to have someone on the other side of the Rizla Suzuki garage as the team gets ready for a two-pronged attack on the Czech Republic Grand Prix at Brno.

Bautista, who has been the sole Suzuki representative this season, will be paired with John Hopkins at Brno, the American securing a wild-card outing around the circuit he scored his best-ever MotoGP finish for the team in 2007.

An opportunity to measure himself against an experienced competitor, Bautista is hopeful Hopkins's knowledge will help him in his quest to continue up the MotoGP order.

“I've been relaxing since the last race with a few days at the beach and now I'm training hard and looking forward to Brno. The last two races have been very positive and I think as a whole we are in the best position we have been since I've been in MotoGP. We need to continue with the progress we've made recently and the results will start to come. 

“I had an injured back at Brno last year and couldn't ride at my best, but I'm 100 per cent now and will be pushing from day one. I hope John has a good weekend and enjoys himself; it will be good to have him there as it will give us the chance to push each other along. I'm sure we can work well together to get a good setting for the GSV-R and it will be nice to have a team mate again! I'm excited about the Brno race – I will be giving my maximum!”

Hopkins, who has taken in World Superbike and British Superbike events over the last two weekends, is also excited to be back on the GSV-R and is expecting to be more competitive than he was at Jerez when he stepped in as a late substitute for the injured Bautista.

“This is my third race in as many weeks and I am really looking forward to it! It's been very busy and doing these three different championships back-to-back is quite a challenge, but I am really excited to be back in amongst the big boys at MotoGP. When I rode at Jerez earlier in the year I'd had no real 2011 racing experience so it was a bit 'in at the deep end'. 

“It was also the first time I'd raced with my wrist working properly since the operation, up until then it was still healing and the few times I'd been on a bike in 2011 had been for pre-season tests and the filming shoot at Qatar. 

“Now I feel that I have gained more confidence and I'm riding better than ever. I'm really pumped that the race is at Brno because it is one of my favourite tracks and I hope I can go well. I'm under no illusions that it will be tough, because the other guys have been racing on MotoGP bikes all season and I'll need some time to get up to speed with the bike and tyres, but I'll be giving it all I've got to try to get a good result for the team.”

source: crash.net

Bautista crashes out while challenging for the top-six

Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista ended today’s U.S. Grand Prix in the gravel after crashing out on the 14th lap of this afternoon’s race.

Bautista made a confident start from 12th on the grid and had moved up a place by the end of lap one. He produced a couple of very strong passes over the next few laps to move into eighth place and join the battle for sixth between the two Ducati’s of Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi. Bautista closed the gap on the pair and it looked like the crowd was in for a repeat of last week’s exciting battle between the three, but unfortunately Bautista low-sided his Suzuki GSV-R and, although he remounted his bike, he was unable to get it restarted and had to retire from the race.

The crowd of 52,670 that gathered on the hillsides that surround the Laguna Seca circuit were again treated to bright blue skies and brilliant sunshine, as they witnessed current championship leader Casey Stoner take his fifth victory of the season on a Factory Honda. Reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo was second with Dani Pedrosa filling the final podium place.

Rizla Suzuki and Bautista now embark on a short summer break before resuming the 2011 season at Brno in the Czech Republic on Sunday 14th August, when Bautista will be joined by John Hopkins who is making a wild-card appearance at the eastern European circuit.

Álvaro Bautista:

“I am very, very disappointed after today and really frustrated because although we did a really good job all weekend, we didn’t get the result we deserved and I crashed. We tried many different things here this weekend and used a completely different setting to last year and we managed to get the same good feeling as we had in Germany. This is the best I have felt on a bike in my MotoGP career so I know things are moving in the right direction. I think we made a mistake on Friday and Saturday, because we didn’t try the soft front tyre in the afternoons. I think the hard tyre here wasn’t too bad, but it didn’t give me the feeling I wanted in the corners - the grip wasn’t too bad, but it just didn’t transmit enough information. For the race I started with a hard front and I now think it was a mistake not to use a soft one. I got a good start, but some riders closed up in front of me and I couldn’t get past, but I did make up one place on the first lap. I overtook some other guys and got behind the Ducati’s, but I was a bit far away and had to catch them up. My rhythm was really good and I had a lot of confidence in the bike, but I lost the front without any reason and crashed. I had entered that corner at the same speed and in the same place in previous laps so I don’t know what happened. I am happy with the work we did this weekend and pleased with my level on the bike. Before the crash I was fighting for sixth or seventh and I know we can be there now and we have to keep working at this level and higher in the next races We now have some time to relax and charge our batteries, so we can be full gas for Brno.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:

“I am really disappointed today for everyone at Suzuki, Rizla, the team itself and of course for Álvaro. Starting from 12th was never going to make the job easy, but a very aggressive first couple of laps, and then settling in to a good rhythm saw him right back in the fight and another entertaining duel with the Factory Ducati’s was on the cards. Equally, once the race settled down, our lap-times were not so different from Dovizioso and Spies battling for fourth, so despite today’s’ disappointment there are a lot of positives to take from this weekend at Laguna Seca. We’ll be arriving in Brno with two riders and looking to keep the positive momentum going!”

Crash frustrates Bautista in Laguna qualifying

Bautista (P12, 1’22.669, 30 laps) lost the front of his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R on turn three and crashed at just past the half-way point of this afternoon’s session. He was in ninth place in the standings at the time, but had yet to use a new rear tyre to get a better qualifying position. He managed to return to the pit and use his other bike to try and improve on his lap-time, but was unable to find his rhythm and will now have work to do from the fourth row of the grid tomorrow. A very positive point for the whole team is the consistency on race tyres of the Suzuki GSV-R around the 3,610m American circuit, a fact which was emphasised by Bautista making his fastest time on a tyre which had already done 27 laps of the Laguna Seca track.

Bautista will be looking to repeat his good starts from the two races leading up to Laguna in tomorrow’s main event, as he tries to make in-roads into the riders in front of him when the lights go out to signal the start of the 32-lap race at 14.00hrs local time (21.00hrs GMT).

Álvaro Bautista:

“It has been a very big disappointment for me and the whole team this afternoon. We had done well in every practice, but in the qualifying - where it is really important to make a good position for the race - I crashed and lost the opportunity to make a good lap. I think we need to be positive for tomorrow though, and take some encouragement from the fact that we did our best time on a 27-lap used tyre, so this is good for the race. The bad thing is that we are near the back of the grid tomorrow, so I will have to make a good start like I have in the last two races and try to get a good position in the first corner. Tomorrow we will be trying our hardest and I will be giving it full gas!”

source: MotoGP Official Website

Bautista seventh and on the pace in the Californian sun

Álvaro Bautista followed on from his strong performance last weekend in Germany to produce his best first day’s performance of the season so far at Laguna Seca today.

Bautista (P7, 1’23.056, 49 laps), was in constant touch with the top-six through the afternoon session, even though he couldn’t find the rear grip from his Rizla Suzuki that he wanted over the 3,610m American circuit. He worked hard with his crew to get the levels of adhesion that he is looking for to make the next step up and compete with the group in front of him. Bautista still believes there is more to come from him and his machine over the rest of the weekend and is in a confident mood as he heads towards tomorrow’s qualifying session.

Today’s afternoon practice was held in brilliant sunshine with cloudless skies covering the Laguna Seca Raceway. World Champion Jorge Lorenzo on a Yamaha was the fastest rider of the day, with last weekend’s winner Dani Pedrosa second and current championship leader Casey Stoner in third. Bautista is only a second from first place and will be looking to break into a 1’22 lap tomorrow, a feat which was only achieved by the top-six today.

Rizla Suzuki has a free practice session of 45-minutes tomorrow morning followed by an hour of qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday’s 32-lap race is the 10th of the season and the action gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (21.00hrs GMT).

Álvaro Bautista:

“This morning the track was very cold so we started with the softer tyres and from the beginning it felt like we didn’t have very much grip from the rear when entering a corner. The contact feeling wasn’t quite right so we worked on improving that and we also tried some different electronics settings for the spin control. In the second session the track temperatures had increased so we used the harder compound tyres, but we seemed to have the same problem as this morning with corner entry grip. This didn’t give me a good feeling and made me slower in the corner and on the exit than I wanted to be. We worked hard to try and resolve it but we didn’t quite manage it, so it gives us something to work towards tomorrow. My lap-times and rhythm were not too bad though and I was able to follow some fast guys quite easily, so this is a good sign. I hope that tomorrow we can improve on the rear grip and do some work on the gearbox, because we are not at our maximum here just yet. So we have a lot of work to do on Saturday, but at the moment I am very confident because my feeling is positive like it was last week in Germany.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:

“It’s been a very solid first day here at Laguna Seca for Álvaro and the Rizla Suzuki team. The performance at Sachsenring last weekend has helped his confidence and it’s clear that he has brought a slightly different tactic to Friday’s sessions to try and be as close to the lead group’s pace as he possibly can, as we head to qualifying on Saturday. We’re pretty close to the front guys everywhere except for the third section, but if we can find a decent step in lap-time there, and improve the overall rear grip, we should be in good shape for the rest of the weekend.”

Troy Lee Designs produces special helmet in support of Japan at Laguna

Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista will have a one-off Troy Lee designed Shoei helmet at this weekend’s USGP at Laguna Seca, to show TLD’s and his support for the people of Japan following the tragedy there earlier this year.

This beautiful paint-scheme has been created by Troy Lee Designs’ Japanese designer Maki Ushiroyama and features all the flags of the fourteen countries on the MotoGP calendar, with pride of place going to the Japanese ‘Nisshōki’ or ‘Hinomaru’ – as it is more commonly known – on the top of the helmet. The colours of all nations is to represent the global support for Japan following the tragedy in March and an added message in Japanese translates as ‘Ganbare Nippon’, which literally means ‘Cheer up Japan, do your best and don't give up!’

Bautista will wear the helmet for the first time during Saturday morning’s practice session at Laguna Seca and will continue to use the design for the rest of the weekend including Sunday’s 32-lap race. He will also use the helmet during the Indianapolis Grand Prix next month after which this unique helmet will be auctioned to raise funds in support of a Japanese charity. The full details of the auction and how you can bid on this amazing helmet will be released after the Indianapolis race.

Maki Ushiroyama – Creative Director, Troy Lee Designs:

“As a Japanese person, and because we have many Japanese staff at Troy Lee, it was a great honour to do this design for Álvaro to wear at Laguna in support of Japan.  I really wanted to help my homeland and this is a great way to do it. I wanted to create something very cool that Álvaro would like and also very tasteful to support all the people that were affected by this tragedy. I think we have succeeded in that because Álvaro loves the design and I’m really pleased his reaction has been so positive! The graphic shows that all the 14 countries visited by MotoGP are supporting Japan, and I guess I can call the big red circle on top the heart of Japan!

“On one side is the American flag to represent the heart of Troy Lee Designs, the Laguna Seca Circuit and US Suzuki. On the front is the Spanish flag for Álvaro's heart and along the back the UK flag is there to represent the crew’s heart. Along with the team, TLD looks forward to auctioning this absolutely one-off helmet and aiding a charity back in Japan to help the people that need it most.”

Rizla Suzuki heads stateside looking for further improvements

Rizla Suzuki has made a transatlantic dash to ‘The Golden State’ of California in The United States of America for the 10th round of the 2011 MotoGP World Championship.

Álvaro Bautista is in a confident mood following his impressive seventh place last time out at the Sachsenring. He is planning to continue with the same vein of work that the team produced in Germany and move closer to the top-six. Bautista will certainly be looking for better luck on his second visit to the American circuit - his first race at Laguna ended unceremoniously last year when he was knocked off by another rider on only the third lap. The Spaniard will be determined this time to make up for that as he continues to build on his form from recent races.

The Laguna Seca circuit is situated about 160kms south of San Francisco near the towns of Monterey and Seaside. The area was originally a field artillery target range and manoeuvre site belonging to the US Army and the circuit is actually built on a dried-up lake. The 3,610m layout features 11 corners – four right and seven left – and includes probably one of the most incredible turns on any racetrack in the world: the famous ‘Corkscrew’ is a left and right hand combination with a huge drop in elevation that gives a feeling of falling off the edge of a cliff as the riders approach it at high-speeds.

Rizla Suzuki has three 45-minute practice sessions on Friday and Saturday morning, followed by an hour of qualifying on Saturday afternoon. Sunday’s race is round 10 on the MotoGP calendar and the excitement will get underway for the 32-lap race at 14.00hrs local time (21.00hrs GMT) with Bautista hoping to follow in the footsteps of early pioneers and find gold in the Californian hills!

Álvaro Bautista:

“I have a good memory of Laguna from last year – except for the race! It is a nice track and very difficult. I am really looking forward to it after Sachsenring because I am very confident we can continue what we are doing and make further steps. The whole team is in a good mood and we believe we can make a good result in America.

“Before we arrive at Laguna, I will travel with Paul to visit our friends at Troy Lee Designs – I think they have a big surprise waiting for me, I know they are working on a special paint design for my Shoei helmet! Then we go to Suzuki America to visit the staff and meet the riders from the American road-racing and motocross teams. It should be a fun week!”

Bautista passes Hayden and Rossi on final lap

Rizla Suzuki's Alvaro Bautista spent the majority of Sunday's German MotoGP locked in combat with factory Ducati riders - and world champions - Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi for seventh place.

The Spaniard overtook both Desmosedici riders on the final lap to finish just 0.059sec in front of Hayden, with seven-time MotoGP champion Rossi a mere 0.066sec further back.

“I got involved with the two Ducati guys and really enjoyed the race with them," said Bautista. "At the end it was very difficult to overtake Valentino and Nicky because they brake very hard and very late, making it tough to get past. 

"On the last lap I overtook Valentino at the end of the main straight. I then followed Nicky and waited for the last two corners because I knew I had an opportunity there to get him. 

"I had to brake with everything I had to get past him on corner 12, but I ran a bit wide and lost some speed, Nicky overtook me on the last corner, but he entered too quickly and he went out, so I got past him on the exit of the corner. 

"I am very happy that we are the first finisher after the top six because they are on a different level at the moment. For the next race I hope to continue with this way of working and get closer to the top.”

Seventh was Bautista's best dry result of the season, which began badly when he broke his leg in practice for round one in Qatar. 

Bautista was one of three riders to use the softer rear tyre, the others being Sylvain Guintoli and Hector Barbera.

source: crash.net

Strong seventh for Suzuki’s Bautista at Sachsenring

Starting from 10th on the grid, Bautista knew a good start was required and by the end of the first lap he had moved up into ninth place. Over the next two laps he became involved in what turned out to be a race-long battle with the Ducati’s of Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi. The trio swapped places many times over the remainder of the race, but Bautista saved his best till last. He produced his quickest lap of the race on the penultimate lap and then badgered and passed both Rossi and then Hayden on the final corner to take a well deserved, but hard-fought seventh.

Bautista chose the softer option of the Bridgestone race tyres today as the track temperatures and overcast, but humid conditions gave him the confidence to use the softer rubber. The 101,309 spectators at trackside were not only treated to the three way battle involving Bautista, but action throughout every part of the 30 lap race.

Álvaro Bautista: 

“I am happy with today’s result because it was a fun race and I am quite pleased with where we finished. At the beginning I had to try and get a good start, because in the first corner you have to be very careful with other riders. I got a decent start and was in a good position just behind the top riders, but I was a bit too far away from them, and my rhythm wasn’t quite as quick, so I couldn’t quite stay with them. I got involved with the two Ducati guys and really enjoyed the race with them. At the end it was very difficult to overtake Valentino and Nicky because they brake very hard and very late, making it tough to get past. On the last lap I overtook Valentino at the end of the main straight. I then followed Nicky and waited for the last two corners because I knew I had an opportunity there to get him. I had to brake with everything I had to get past him on corner 12, but I ran a bit wide and lost some speed, Nicky overtook me on the last corner, but he entered too quickly and he went out, so I got past him on the exit of the corner. I am very happy that we are the first finisher after the top six because they are on a different level at the moment. For the next race I hope to continue with this way of working and get closer to the top.”

Paul Denning - Team Manager:

“I think we showed this weekend at Sachsenring - a track that has traditionally been very tough for Suzuki - that both the GSV-R and the rider have made good steps in 2011, despite the bad luck and huge injury at the start of the season. The high-speed crash that Álvaro suffered at the end of warm-up this morning was not ideal race preparation and it might have had a small effect on his ultimate pace, but nonetheless he dug deep and a rode a very entertaining and aggressive 30-laps. Maybe with a better qualifying position, which we have to keep working on, or with a luckier first couple of laps, he might have been able to tow along on the back of the fastest riders. We won’t know if that could have been the case until we get the opportunity again at Laguna Seca next week. It was an incredibly competitive race today, all the top riders finished and we were beaten by only the four Factory Hondas and the two Factory Yamahas - this weekend has definitely been a step in the right direction.”

Rizla Suzuki press release

Bautista shows good race pace in qualifying

Bautista will start from the front of the fourth row after qualifying less than a second from pole position, but it was his consistency throughout the session which gives the whole team a positive outlook for Sunday. Bautista was never outside the top-10 for the whole session and was regularly in the leading pack as he made his final adjustments for tomorrow’s race. He was also the busiest rider on-track as he used the time available to its full extent to complete 36 laps of the 3,671m German circuit.

Tomorrow’s 30-lap race signals the halfway point of the season, with Bautista looking to make a good start and battle for his best result of the year so far when the lights go out to signal the beginning of the event at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT).

Álvaro Bautista:

“I am not happy with the position because I think we should be higher up than that. I started with a hard rear tyre in qualifying and right from the beginning I followed some other riders, but couldn’t quite get in a rhythm. After a few laps some riders went to the box, but I stayed out on my own and I started to make a good race pace. With a tyre that had done 20-laps I did a 22.7, so that is a good sign for the race and I feel very positive. When I used my first soft tyre, I made a mistake and ran off the track and lost some of the grip from the rubber, so couldn’t really get the lap-time I wanted. With my second soft tyre I had a lot of riders in front of me and I just couldn’t make a good, clean lap - so I’m not happy about that. My rhythm is certainly better than the position and I will need to make a good start tomorrow – like Mugello – because at this track it is very important to have a good first lap as it is difficult to overtake.”

Rizla Suzuki press release

Positive first day for Bautista in Germany

Bautista recorded a quickest time of 1’23.261 from his 46 laps around the 3,671m German circuit, to put him in ninth place in the overall standings and just over one second off the provisional pole position. Bautista tried both compounds of Bridgestone race tyres to find the compound best suited to his Suzuki GSV-R. He is sure that if conditions improve, he will be able to reduce his lap-times significantly and move up the leader-board as he prepares for Sunday’s race.

Álvaro Bautista:

“Today has been a good day, because finally the rain didn’t make an appearance! This morning it was quite difficult because the track was cold and grip was at a minimum. I took it careful and just got the feel of the bike because I didn’t want to crash like some of the other guys did. This afternoon we tried different combinations of tyres to get the best mix for the bike. I started with a used set of soft ones from this morning’s session and then changed to harder ones on the front and rear. These didn’t give me such a good feeling and I swapped the front for a soft and this was better. The rear worked well, but I still had some sliding from the left side and found it difficult to get a good line through the corners. I felt I had a good rhythm throughout the whole practice and I think that I can certainly improve quite a bit tomorrow, especially if the conditions are better as this will give us more grip from the rear and we will have a good opportunity to move forward.”

Rizla Suzuki press release

Pictures: Alvaro Bautista Sachsenring Pre Event

Pictures of Alvaro Bautista, Sachsenring pre event

Bautista back to full fitness

With his fitness back to 100%, Bautista is looking for a confidence-inspiring ride at the German circuit to propel him into the second half of the season. He was challenging for a top-six finish at the Italian Grand Prix before a huge front end slide put paid to his ambitions as he ran off the track and lost valuable time. Bautista completed almost 90 laps at Mugello in a post-race test and made some significant advances with the set-up, handling and electronics on the Suzuki GSV-R, all of which he hopes will assist him for the remainder of the season.

Álvaro Bautista:

“I cannot wait for the race to come - it will not be soon enough for me! I made some really big steps at Mugello in both the race and the test. We now have all that information to use at Sachsenring and the rest of the tracks this season. I think we are capable of running with the top six or seven at most tracks now and just need a little bit of something to get us there - I don’t know if it’s luck or what it is, but we will keep trying until we find it! I like the Sachsenring circuit and I’ve been on the podium there three times. It is not an easy track to get the bike set-up right for, but when you do it’s great fun to ride at. It’s about a lot of edge grip, so we will have to work on that and get the bike set-up as quickly as we can.”

Rizla Suzuki press release

Bautista targeting top six after 'big steps'

Alvaro Bautista starts the second half of the 2011 MotoGP season, at Sachsenring this weekend, believing he can be a consistent top six challenger.

The Rizla Suzuki rider, who broke his femur during practice for the opening event of the year in Qatar, is now back to full physical strength and looking to exploit promising developments for the GSV-R used at the recent Mugello test.

Bautista has taken one top-six finish from the first eight rounds - a fifth place in the wet Silverstone race.

The Spaniard was challenging for a another top-six at the Italian Grand Prix, before a huge front end slide put paid to his ambitions.

Bautista then completed almost 90-laps at the post-race test, when he made some more 'big steps' with the set-up, handling and electronics.

“I cannot wait for the race to come - it will not be soon enough for me!" said Bautista. "I made some really big steps at Mugello in both the race and the test. We now have all that info to use at Sachsenring and the rest of the tracks this season.

"I think we are capable of running with the top-six or seven at most tracks now and just need a little bit of something to get us there - I don't know if it's luck or what it is, but we will keep trying until we find it!

"I like the Sachsenring circuit and I've been on the podium there three times. It is not an easy track to get the bike set-up right for, but when you do it's great fun to ride at. It's about a lot of edge grip, so we will have to work on that and get the bike set-up as quickly as we can.”

Alvaro Bautista Say Big Thank You

Alvaro Bautista almost take his 2011 MotoGP race. After missed 2 races on Losail and Jerez, Bautista now back to Estoril. Although he just on the bottom om the table, but Bautista said very happy back to track. Bautista not 100%, he need more power on his leg.

“I am very happy because I think that nobody expected that after little more than one month I would be able to jump on the bike and ride! When I broke my femur my target was to ride here and I worked very hard to make it happen. I did many kilometers every day between Talavera and Madrid, for my visits to the hyperbaric chamber and for the physiotherapy that I needed - now I can say that I am here and I am riding because of that! I am still not 100%, because I need some more power in my leg, but to be able to ride and get a feeling for the bike and the reference points around the track in my mind to be a MotoGP rider, I am certainly fit enough. I went one second faster this afternoon than I did this morning and my feeling on the bike was very similar, I was just a bit more confident so I could push more. I didn’t want to risk anything today, it was all about riding and getting a feeling – I didn’t want to push too hard to find that fast lap-time. I am improving every time I get on the bike so that makes things look good for the rest of the weekend. My leg is a bit stiff now so I will need to recover and get a bit of work on it this evening, but it recovered quickly after this morning’s session, so I don’t think that will be a problem. I think my body is also remembering how to ride a MotoGP bike as well as my mind is, so that is a very positive thing.”

“I want to say a big thank-you to all the team for all the confidence they have shown in me. They all know that it is difficult for me to get to my maximum level, but they have given me their full support – so thanks to all of them for that.”

Source: MotoGP Official Website

John Hopkins Will Not Race On Estoril

John Hopkins will not race on Estoril this weekend. This American rider was unable to ride because he ride on British Superbike with Samsung Suzuki. Suzuki's Paul Denning told that Nobuatsu Aoki is ready to replace Alvaro Bautista, in case Baustista cannot ride.

"We are just not in the business of letting a lot of people down and a large number of people have come on board as part of the Crescent BSB team based on John’s involvement."

"John did a brilliant job in Jerez to prove his own ability, but to be in a championship over the course of a year to show his strength and consistency and to compete in a fist fight that BSB is, that is just as important for his future career."

"We’re just not willing to break agreements basically. To pull John out of a BSB round to be at Estoril when he might not even ride the bike just doesn’t make any sense. Nobuatsu will be in Estoril for the whole weekend because he is testing on Monday, so if we need him he will be there."

Nobuatsu Aoki is Suzuki's test and development rider.

source: MCN

Alvaro Bautista Ready For Estoril

Alvaro Bautista ready to ride on Estoril. This Spaniard has been able to cycle and swim as part of the recovery from the injury. Bautista need to pass medical check to ride on Estoril. In case for replacement, Rizla Suzuki will prepare Nobuatsu Aoki, Suzuki's test and development rider. 

Aoki was to attend the Portuguese race anyway because he will take part in a one-day test session on the Monday after the race. John Hopkins, whose replace Bautista on Jerez race is unable to be on standby to replace Bautista because of his commitments to the Samsung Suzuki British Superbike squad in the second round at Oulton Park.

“My target is to ride in Estoril. The big problem is I lost many days lying in bed, so now the movement is worse than I thought and the recovery is slower than I expected before the operation. I had some very difficult days in Qatar and after the operation it was very hard for me.”

“The problem was they made a big cut and they didn’t close the cut. I had to travel to Spain with a big cut open in my leg, with the muscle outside of the skin and this was very horrible for me.  I didn’t measure exactly but the open cut was more than 30cm. It was closed with 49 stitches. I’m leading the world championship for the number of stitches.”

Bautista has gained enough strength in his left leg to resume training. He's confident for his come back on Estoril. This 2011 season, Bautista missed his Losail race and his home race at Jerez. If he race on Estoril, it will be the first race for him on 2011.

source: MCN

Alvaro Bautista Pictures

Alvaro Bautista maybe missed first two race of MotoGP 2011 and replaced by John Hopkins. If you mess his action, here's some pictures of Alvaro Bautista on MotoGP test.