Rizla Suzuki riders Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista both had frustrating races at Laguna Seca today, but for very different reasons.

Bautista was yet again the victim of another incident as Aleix Espargaro knocked Suzuki’s Spanish rider out of the race at the start of the third lap. Bautista had already got into a good rhythm and had passed a couple of other riders before Espargaro’s intervention bought his race to an abrupt end for the second week in succession.

Over 51,000 people filled the hillsides around the Laguna Seca circuit to see Jorge Lorenzo record his sixth victory of the season and further strengthen his position at the head of the World Championship standings.

The whole MotoGP paddock will now have a short mid-season break, before re-grouping for the next round of the championship at Brno in the Czech Republic on Sunday 15th August.

Álvaro Bautista:
“I had a poor start because the bike wheelied too much and I lost some positions, but in the first couple of laps I felt good and was able to pass some other riders. I felt good on the bike and at the start of the third lap I passed Espargaro on the first corner and as I made the normal line to the second turn, which is two consecutive corners, he was in the middle of the last turn and hit me in the body and I crashed. This is very disappointing because I felt really very good and had been able to overtake other riders quite easily. It has been a bad start for me here in Laguna Seca, but we must make sure we keep the hard work going at the next races.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“It was obviously disappointing that Álvaro got tangled up with Espargaro and knocked off the track so early on in the race – especially as his potential had picked up so consistently over the course of the weekend. That’s the last two Grands Prix that have ended with him on the floor through no fault of his own – we just have to hope his luck changes very quickly.

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

The MotoGP warm up session took place in considerably cooler conditions than yesterday with thick fog still hanging over the circuit. That fog should be gone come race time however and make way for sunshine and blue skies again.

Laptimes in the warm up were overall slower due to the track conditions (track temperature well below 20°C), but most of the order from qualifying remained. Alvaro finished the session in 13th position.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Jorge LORENZO Fiat Yamaha Team 1’21.857
2 Casey STONER Ducati Team 1’21.909 0.052 / 0.052
3 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’22.183 0.326 / 0.274
4 Valentino ROSSI Fiat Yamaha Team 1’22.432 0.575 / 0.249
5 Marco MELANDRI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’22.731 0.874 / 0.299
6 Ben SPIES Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’22.830 0.973 / 0.099
7 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’22.874 1.017 / 0.044
8 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1’23.045 1.188 / 0.171
9 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’23.272 1.415 / 0.227
10 Loris CAPIROSSI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’23.438 1.581 / 0.166
11 Aleix ESPARGARO Pramac Racing Team 1’23.511 1.654 / 0.073
12 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’23.542 1.685 / 0.031
13 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’23.683 1.826 / 0.141
14 Hector BARBERA Paginas Amarillas Aspar 1’23.890 2.033 / 0.207
15 Alex DE ANGELIS Interwetten Honda MotoGP 1’23.930 2.073 / 0.040
16 Roger Lee HAYDEN LCR Honda MotoGP 1’24.597 2.740 / 0.667
17 Mika KALLIO Pramac Racing Team 1’24.799 2.942 / 0.202

Rizla Suzuki racers Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista made significant improvements during today’s final practice and qualifying sessions for tomorrow’s American Grand Prix.

Capirossi (P12, 1’22.647, 32 laps) took just over two seconds off his time from yesterday, whilst team-mate Bautista (P14, 1’22.770, 35 laps) shaved almost two-and-a-half seconds off his best time from Friday. Both riders are in a positive mood ahead of tomorrow’s race around the 3,610m Laguna Seca circuit, as they believe that the improvements made today will continue though the 32-laps of the race.

Today’s qualifying was held in warm and sunny conditions with track temperatures reaching 47ºC. World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo secured his fifth successive pole position on his factory Yamaha.

Tomorrow’s 32-lap race is round 10 on the MotoGP calendar and the main event will get underway at 14.00hrs local time (21.00hrs GMT).

Álvaro Bautista: “Today I’m much happier than I was yesterday. It was a hard first practice and last night I thought a lot about the track, because it was incredible to ride here for the first time. Today I have a much clearer idea of the track and where my reference points need to be. I went much faster today than yesterday and I felt I was able to push on a used tyre and get a good rhythm. For qualifying we tested the harder compound tyres, but my feeling wasn’t as good as with the softer ones, so I think we will be using the soft option for the race. I was happy with my qualifying laptime because I have made a big step over the two days and now I want to look at the telemetry to see where the places are on the track that I can still improve. Tomorrow I’ll be happy to take some more steps and improve my time and feeling in the race. I hope that for the race I can go faster and I’m very confident that if I can get a good start I can stay with the middle group and battle for a top-10 finish.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

A somewhat disappointing qualifying in the final minutes for Alvaro who was up to 11th after the halfway stages of the session, but was ultimately pushed out of fourth row and into 14th position for the starting grid of tomorrow’s race.
In any case, the laptimes up to the Top 10 positions are very close together and with another decent start tomorrow Alvaro should be well able to get in the battle for the final Top 10 positions in the race at Laguna Seca. Most encouraging bit of the session is the consistency with which Alvaro managed to go around the track at about the same speed for almost all of his laps, not needing tows for that either. The setup for this race pace should give him the advantage over some riders who will line up on the grid ahead of him, but had only one or two fast laps in the qualifying without having a good overall pace.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Jorge LORENZO Fiat Yamaha Team 1’20.978
2 Casey STONER Ducati Team 1’21.169 0.191 / 0.191
3 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1’21.617 0.639 / 0.448
4 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’21.655 0.677 / 0.038
5 Ben SPIES Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’21.679 0.701 / 0.024
6 Valentino ROSSI Fiat Yamaha Team 1’21.688 0.710 / 0.009
7 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’21.920 0.942 / 0.232
8 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’22.217 1.239 / 0.297
9 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’22.300 1.322 / 0.083
10 Hector BARBERA Paginas Amarillas Aspar 1’22.366 1.388 / 0.066
11 Marco MELANDRI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’22.407 1.429 / 0.041
12 Loris CAPIROSSI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’22.647 1.669 / 0.240
13 Aleix ESPARGARO Pramac Racing Team 1’22.712 1.734 / 0.065
14 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’22.770 1.792 / 0.058
15 Mika KALLIO Pramac Racing Team 1’23.127 2.149 / 0.357
16 Alex DE ANGELIS Interwetten Honda MotoGP 1’23.226 2.248 / 0.099
17 Roger Lee HAYDEN LCR Honda MotoGP 1’23.764 2.786 / 0.538

It has just been announced that additionally to his demo laps on the Rizla Suzuki MotoGP bike at Brands Hatch, Alvaro will also participate in the Barry Sheene memorial dinner on August 7th.

The Barry Sheene Memorial Night is held at the weekend of the British Superbike round at Brands Hatch. Alvaro will be riding demo laps for the attending spectators on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday evening Alvaro will then be interviewed at the Memorial Dinner by Steve Parrish, good friend and former team mate of Barry Sheene, and also donate a special item to the auction.

Tickets for the event must be purchased until July 30th via their website and cost £25 each. So for all those who were planning or just thinking about going to Brands Hatch, don’t miss this unique opportunity!

Further info and tickets here.

Again there was glorious sunshine and exquisite weather conditions greeting the MotoGP riders for the second free practice session at Laguna Seca.
The usual riders again took over at the front with Lorenzo just pushing Stoner from first spot, but Stoner still keeps the fastest laptime of the weekend so far.

Alvaro improved his laptimes considerably compared to yesterday, having one more hour to learn the brandnew track. He’s already closed the gap towards the front runners from 3,3 seconds yesterday to 1,5 seconds today and moved up the order to 13th position. In contrast to yesterday the laptimes among all riders were also much closer in the second practice session with Alvaro finishing the session only 0,003 seconds behind his teammate Capirossi.
Additionally, Alvaro was able to consistently run the same quick laptimes and looks in good shape to further improve in qualifying and, more importantly, keep up with the guys in the Top 10 positions for the race tomorrow.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Jorge LORENZO Fiat Yamaha Team 1’21.763
2 Casey STONER Ducati Team 1’21.826 0.063 / 0.063
3 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’21.876 0.113 / 0.050
4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1’22.166 0.403 / 0.290
5 Ben SPIES Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’22.293 0.530 / 0.127
6 Valentino ROSSI Fiat Yamaha Team 1’22.334 0.571 / 0.041
7 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’22.642 0.879 / 0.308
8 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’22.769 1.006 / 0.127
9 Hector BARBERA Paginas Amarillas Aspar 1’22.846 1.083 / 0.077
10 Aleix ESPARGARO Pramac Racing Team 1’22.913 1.150 / 0.067
11 Marco MELANDRI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’23.077 1.314 / 0.164
12 Loris CAPIROSSI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’23.307 1.544 / 0.230
13 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’23.310 1.547 / 0.003
14 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’23.706 1.943 / 0.396
15 Mika KALLIO Pramac Racing Team 1’24.037 2.274 / 0.331
16 Roger Lee HAYDEN LCR Honda MotoGP 1’24.368 2.605 / 0.331
17 Alex DE ANGELIS Interwetten Honda MotoGP 1’24.637 2.874 / 0.269

Race fans in the USA had the chance for an exclusive MotoGP experience on Thursday, July 22, before the Red Bull MotoGP at Laguna Seca, as they raised money for Riders.

Fifty-three participants took part in the exclusive Day of Stars event, which we organize each year to raise money for our work in Africa. We work in seven countries in Africa, ensuring health workers have access to reliable motorcycles and four-wheeled vehicles so they can reach remote towns and communities with lifesaving health care.

The guests had an inside look at the world’s premier motorcycle racing championship with a pit lane tour hosted by American grand prix legend, and Riders for Health co-founder, Randy Mamola.

As well as this behind-the-scenes look into MotoGP, the participants took part in a 100 mile motorcycle ride through the spectacular ‘Steinbeck’ country around the Laguna Seca circuit. On their return, they completed three laps of the famous track, including the legendry Corkscrew turn.

Over lunch, guests enjoyed hearing from Suzuki’s Alvaro Bautista, as well as Aleix Espargaró and Mika Kallio from the Pramac Ducati team and Alex de Angelis, who will be standing in for injured Interwetten Honda rider, Hiroshi Aoyama. The stars chatted to the group about their careers and their views on the challenging, but popular, Laguna Seca track.

The day ended with an amazing MotoGP auction, which raised a fantastic $30,590. Bidders were able to bid on a Tissot watch signed by Nicky Hayden, which raised $4,000. Casey Stoner, Ben Spies and Randy de Puniet each donated a pair of boots which raised a further $1,700.

The Suzuki MotoGP team raised an incredible sum of $16,500 when they auctioned a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend the US MotoGP weekend as a team member. The package included paddock passes for the whole weekend, plus the chance to watch some of Saturday’s sessions from pit-wall and the team’s pit-box. And what’s more, the winning bidder is set to join the team on the grid for the start of the race on Sunday.

Riders for Health CEO and co-founder, Andrea Coleman:
‘The money we have raised at Day of Stars will have a huge impact on Riders for Health’s work in Africa. It will allow us to mobilize more health workers and reach even more men, women and children with lifesaving health care. We would like to thank all the teams and riders who took part, as well as everyone at MotoGP and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for making this event possible. But most of all we would like to thank everyone who came along and helped us to raise so much money.’

Source: Riders for Health

Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista made his very first racing visit to the Laguna Seca Raceway in America today and took on the task of learning this demanding circuit.

Bautista’s (P16, 1’25.031, 26 laps) only previous visit to the 3,610m California circuit was as a spectator and he found out just how difficult this track is on a MotoGP machine when he made his way out onto track for today’s practice session. He made big steps throughout the session – even though he was troubled by braking issues early on – and is positive that he will continue to improve as the weekend continues.

Today’s one-and-only practice session was conducted in very pleasant conditions with air temperatures at 24ºC. Australian Casey Stoner on his factory Ducati set the fastest time.

Rizla Suzuki has one more practice session tomorrow morning, followed by qualifying on Saturday afternoon. Sunday’s 32-lap race gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (21.00hrs GMT).

Álvaro Bautista:
“It’s a totally new circuit for me and a very difficult one to learn. It is so different from any other circuit because it is like a row of mountains – always up and down. Some corners are very difficult because you cannot see where they go, so you have to find very clear reference points for where to be and where to brake. It is difficult in one hour to learn all this, especially because I had a braking problem that caused me to lose about half the practice, so I never had the time I wanted out there. At the end I went a bit quicker and found the points I was looking for. After a good sleep tonight I think it will be easier to ride the circuit. The bike is working well, but I do have a bit of a problem exiting the corners as I’m going a bit wide, but we can certainly change that tomorrow. We will take things step-by-step tomorrow and learn the track, then get quicker in qualifying so we are ready for the race on Sunday.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP