It’s been Alvaro’s turn on the Suzuki Racing Blog again and he writes about his recovery at home and looking forward to the next races.

I am back in Spain now recovering and trying to get healthy for the next round in Mugello. I am feeling stronger everyday and will soon be able to train properly to get ready for the next race.

The operation went very well after the motocross crash and I thought I would be able to race at Le Mans, but MotoGP bikes are very demanding machines to ride and the pain on Friday afternoon was really bad. So, I had a pain-killing injection for Saturday morning and everything felt much easier. Unfortunately, I then had the biggest high-side you can imagine and had to retire from the weekend. I didn’t really do any extra damage to my shoulder – luckily – but I did aggravate some bruising around my ribs and hurt my back a bit, which made it hard to breathe properly, so it was better for me to go home than try to race and make it worse.

This was not the start I wanted for my Suzuki and MotoGP career: I have actually done more blogs for the site now than I have finished races, but I am determined to put that right soon. We go to Mugello next week which is a great track and a fantastic atmosphere. I am sure Loris will be fired up for there and I hope he can get a bit a good luck after what happened to him at Le Mans.

Then we go to Barcelona which is a very special place for all the Spanish riders because you can feel every fan pushing you and wanting you to go fast, so it is a very good feeling to be there. I’ve won there before and the emotion of crossing the line first in a home GP is like no other.

Source: Suzuki Racing

Picture by Kroiss for www.motorsport-total.com

Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi will start tomorrow’s French Grand Prix as the team’s sole rider from the third row of the grid after qualifying in ninth place today.

Capirossi (1’34.306, 26 laps) continued with the positive performance from yesterday during both the sessions today. He was consistently within touch of the front pack throughout the whole of the qualifying session and with a few more modifications to his Suzuki GSV-R this evening, he is confident he can have a strong race tomorrow.

Capirossi will be Rizla Suzuki’s only rider participating in tomorrow’s French Grand Prix, following the withdrawal of Álvaro Bautista earlier today. Bautista suffered from a big high-side in this morning’s practice session and the fresh injuries he sustained – added to his already broken collarbone – forced him to make the decision to take no further part in this weekend’s events. He was disappointed about not competing in France, but also mindful of getting back to full fitness for a hectic schedule ahead.

Álvaro Bautista:
“It is not a good way to say bye-bye to a MotoGP race! This morning I had an injection to help with the pain and for two laps the feeling was a little bit better, not a big difference, but better. Then I crashed and I don’t really know why because I was not going very fast and I just lost the rear tyre. After that I felt more pain down my left side and I decided not to race here and make sure I make a full recovery for the next race. In the future we have lots of races together so it is better to be 100% in all of them, than be 50% or less in one!”

Paul Denning –Team Manager:
“It is a great disappointment not to have Álvaro competing for the rest of the weekend, but in the end the team and the medical staff at the track had to advise him to sit out and let the relatively minor injuries he has heal in time for Mugello. The combination of injuries would have significantly compromised his safety and possibly that of other riders. He’s disappointed, but we are now guaranteed that he’ll be fit and strong for Mugello and we’ll be looking forward to him building on his strong Jerez race performance.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

Photo from motogp.com

Rizla Suzuki have now officially confirmed the retirement of Alvaro for this weekend’s French Grand Prix in Le Mans.

Álvaro Bautista has been forced to withdraw from the rest of this weekend’s proceedings at the French Grand Prix in Le Mans after a crash in practice caused him further injuries.

Bautista suffered from a big high-side on only the third lap of this morning’s practice session He landed hard on the asphalt and sustained some more minor injuries, as well as aggravating the broken collarbone that he sustained only a week ago. Bautista was one of three riders to all crash on the same lap this morning, all caught out by the low track temperatures. He was treated by Dr. Costa’s staff straight after the session and after careful consideration and discussions with the team, took the decision to abandon any further attempts to race this weekend.

Rizla Suzuki will not replace Bautista with another rider for the French Grand Prix, so the team will field a one-man attack as Loris Capirossi takes on the responsibility for the squad. Bautista will return to Spain for further treatment – as well as rest and recuperation – to make sure he is 100% fit for the next round of the season at Mugello in Italy in two weeks’ time

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

Photo from Mapfre Moto10.

It seems to be official now that Alvaro will indeed not continue the Grand Prix in Le Mans after a nasty highsider in the free practice this morning where he landed heavily on his injured shoulder and also seems to have bruised his foot as well.

Update:
Alvaro has now officially called it a day for the French GP and will sit this one out to recover for the next race in Mugello instead.
His highsider in FP2 looked to have hit his shoulder the most, but it appears that the shoulder was actually okay afterwards, but he got a hard knock on his rips and chest which made it difficult for him to breathe. Additionally he also bruised his ankle. Considering that he’s had surgery only a week ago and even before that crash was already in very bad shape, it is definitely for the better to have him skip this GP in favour of a speedy recovery for the next race. Alvaro himself allegedly even wanted to continue riding, but his team convinced him that he should go out anymore with the physical condition he is currently in.

We wish Alvaro a speedy recovery and hope he’ll be fit for the next race again. Go Bati!

Update 2:
The reports on Alvaro’s injuries are partly a bit confusing, but MCN also reports that in the initial Motocross accident last week Alvaro also cracked two rips, an injury that was made a lot worse with his crash in free practice today. In interviews he stated that he barely feels anything in his entire left side. He also got a hard hit on his hip. Combined with the ankle bruise he picked up with the highsider today it would have been indeed very surprising had the team let him continue racing.

Source: MCN

Another quick interview from AS.com who caught up with Alvaro after the first practice to see how he manages with his recent injury.

You’ve obviously been in a lot of pain. What is the main problem?
I rode without getting a painkiller injection in the shoulder to test it out and the main problem is that I have no power in the arm and after two or three laps I start to lose more and more power during braking and change of direction.

They even had to help you take off your helmet.
It’s when I get off the bike I have almost no power in the arm to move it. It’s as if I got a cramp and I can’t move the arm, it doesn’t have any power.

You said that you won’t be a Sunday driver, being last and suffering. Do you see possibilities to improve?
The first day is the worst one, today I am trying it with an injection and if it’s the same I won’t be able to race tomorrow, most of all because of safety reasons. It’s dangerous for me, because if after ten laps I would risk to crash. After the free practice I will see if I can race or not. So far I’ve only managed five consecutive laps at the most. I hope that with the injection I will have less pain and more power. If not we will work towards Mugello.

Is this worth the trouble?
It is necessary. And also, I’m not forced to do this. I ride here because I want to and because I love riding the bike.

Have you ever suffered as much before?
I already raced in similar circumstances in 2003, but that was with the 125cc. With MotoGP it’s another story. There’s more weight and more power.

Source: AS.com

Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista had to contend with severe discomfort and pain during the first practice session at Le Mans in France today.

Bautista suffered a broken collarbone just over a week ago and had surgery to plate the break only last Friday, but he worked hard on his fitness during the last seven days and was back in the saddle of his Suzuki GSV-R for this afternoon’s session. He battled manfully for 19 laps of 4,185m French track, recording a fastest time of 1’37.525. Bautista used no pain-killing treatment before today’s session and will re-assess his condition after tomorrow morning’s final practice session to judge whether he is fit enough to race on Sunday.

Loris Capirossi (P11, 1’35.685, 23 laps) had a strong and productive first day. He only used one set of Bridgestone tyres for the whole session and is confident that tomorrow will bring a more positive result. He was in-touch with the front group throughout the day and will be determined to be right in amongst that group on race-day. Today’s practice was held in warm and sunny conditions with air temperatures getting up to 28ºC. Valentino Rossi on his factory Yamaha set the fastest time of the day.

Rizla Suzuki has one more hour of free practice on Saturday morning, followed by an hour of qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday’s 28-lap race gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT) when hopefully both Rizla Suzuki riders will line up on the grid.

Álvaro Bautista:
“I thought that I would feel better today than I do! I have worked very hard this week to be fit and I was confident that I would be able to ride the bike. It was very difficult though, because after two or three laps I started to lose energy and my left arm was hurting a lot and I couldn’t ride like I wanted to. Tomorrow I will have a pain-killing injection and hopefully the pain will be less. I will then make a decision if I continue with the weekend, today the maximum I felt I could do was five laps and the race is 28, so I still have a long way to go. I will try with the injection and see if things improve.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“Álvaro chose to ride today with no pain-killers and no injection, to assess exactly where he was at and he certainly lost his sun-tan over the course of the session! Motorcycle racers are a tough breed, but there comes a point when pain and lack of strength will win the day. Hopefully with some physiotherapy tonight and the injection in the morning, we’ll be in a better position to understand if a full race distance on Sunday is possible.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

Pictures of Alvaro’s livery for the French Grand Prix in Le Mans this weekend. Since French laws don’t allow for Rizla to be promoted by the team, the bikes now have the rider number’s on the side.

Another surprising change this weekend is that Alvaro apparently changed his helmet sponsor and now rides with Shoei instead of Suomy. The slightly different form of the new helmet also causes the design to be adjusted a little, moving the number 19 from the side further to the back.

Photos courtesy of Rizla Suzuki MotoGP.

Expectedly Alvaro struggled quite a bit with his collarbone fracture in the first free practice today and consequently finished the session in last place. Some TV footage also showed him in the box where he had difficulties to even take his helmet off and was obviously in pain.
However, he improved his laptimes constantly and towards the end of the practice also started his laps on the pace close to the mid-field before losing a lot of time in the last two sectors.
He rode without painkillers today to test the waters, but will surely get some injections tomorrow which should see him improve and able to race despite the injury.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Valentino ROSSI Fiat Yamaha Team 1’34.402
2 Casey STONER Ducati Marlboro Team 1’34.508 0.106 / 0.106
3 Jorge LORENZO Fiat Yamaha Team 1’34.542 0.140 / 0.034
4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1’34.625 0.223 / 0.083
5 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’34.989 0.587 / 0.364
6 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’35.089 0.687 / 0.100
7 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Marlboro Team 1’35.223 0.821 / 0.134
8 Ben SPIES Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’35.291 0.889 / 0.068
9 Aleix ESPARGARO Pramac Racing Team 1’35.450 1.048 / 0.159
10 Marco MELANDRI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’35.643 1.241 / 0.193
11 Loris CAPIROSSI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’35.685 1.283 / 0.042
12 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’35.959 1.557 / 0.274
13 Hector BARBERA Paginas Amarillas Aspar 1’36.009 1.607 / 0.050
14 Randy DE PUNIET LCR Honda MotoGP 1’36.086 1.684 / 0.077
15 Mika KALLIO Pramac Racing Team 1’36.292 1.890 / 0.206
16 Hiroshi AOYAMA Interwetten Honda MotoGP 1’36.798 2.396 / 0.506
17 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’37.525 3.123 / 0.727