Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista rode a fantastic race at Misano in Italy today to bring his GSV-R home in eighth place after a hard-fought race.

Bautista started from 16th on the grid and was lucky to avoid a first corner incident that caused him to lose time on the pack of riders in front of him. He quickly regained his composure and set about chasing the field. Bautista caught and passed a number of riders as he made his way up to eighth on lap 18, he then tried to catch Colin Edwards who had a large gap between himself and Bautista, but the Rizla Suzuki man was unable to bridge the distance – even though he made huge in-roads into the American’s lead.

Today’s race was won by Spaniard Dani Pedrosa with World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo in second. Sadly today’s race was overshadowed by tragic events in the Moto2 race earlier in the day. Japanese rider Shoya Tomizawa was fatally injured in an accident that involved two other riders. The 19-year-old was taken to hospital, but was pronounced dead upon arrival. The thoughts and prayers of the whole Rizla Suzuki team are extended to Tomizawa’s family, friends and team during this traumatic period.

Rizla Suzuki will next be in action at a brand new racetrack to the MotoGP calendar, as it travels to the Aragon circuit in Spain for the next round of the season on Sunday 19th September.

Álvaro Bautista:
“It has now become a very difficult day and I don’t really know what to say. I had a good race, even though I had to avoid Loris and Nicky after they crashed and I lost my position. I tried to get in my rhythm as quick as I could because I knew I had a good pace. When I was catching the group in front of me I made a mistake and put the bike into neutral – so I lost some more distance on them. I concentrated hard and pushed to the limit and I managed to go faster than I had in practice and I caught the group up. Once I was with them I knew I was faster so I got past them and pulled away. Today nobody crashed in front of me during the race so it was a true eighth position and I was very pleased with that. I was happy at the end of the race because the position was good and I was happy with the race-pace, but when we had finished the race I heard the news about Tomizawa and I am just so sorry for him and all his family. It is a hard day for all riders, I am sure he will stay with us always and I hope he is now in a better place.”

Tom O’Kane – Álvaro Bautista’s Crew Chief:
“Firstly I want to say to Tomizawa’s family and friends that we all send our deepest sympathies – it’s a terrible thing that has happened and Álvaro was very upset when he heard the news at the end of the race. With regards to the race, he got a very good start off the line, but took a few laps to find his rhythm. Then it looked like he had a really fun race, he was chasing guys down and passing them with what looked like ease. His fastest lap in the race is the fastest one he has done all weekend and we as a team will be doing all we can to move him up in qualifying to see what he can do from the second or third row.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

The rain stayed away for the MotoGP race at Misano today and so it turned out pretty much as expected in the end. Pedrosa lead into the first corner and immediately started to open up a gap to the rest of the field which just got bigger and bigger with every lap and he took home his first back-to-back win.

Alvaro managed a decent start, but then was slowed down in the second corner when his teammate Loris Capirossi and Nicky Hayden crashed out, causing everyone behind to slow down and avoid their bikes on the track. After that Alvaro was down in 14th position, but then slowly started with his trademark comeback from far behind. As expected from the practice and qualifying sessions the laptimes throughout the field were close together which resulted in a big group of riders battling for the 8th position. Alvaro’s speed was as fast or faster than of all the guys in front of him, up to 5th or 6th position, so he quickly passed a lot of riders and found himself in 8th place after about half of the race. He pulled away from the battling group and closed down the gap to Edwards in 7th by several seconds, but it’s already been too big for him to close it all on his own. With a better grid position and first lap, he might have been able to fight for 6th or even 5th, but considering his 16th position on the grid and the crash in the first lap, he did a very good job once again.

But much more importantly than anything happening in the MotoGP race we’d like to express our condolences and send our very best wishes to Shoya Tomizawa’s family and friends. Shoya passed away in the Riccione hospital this afternoon after a horrible crash in the Moto2 race and he will be sorely missed. Rest in peace, Shoya.

Full Results MotoGP Race:

Pos. Rider Team Km/h Time/Gap
1 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 160.0 44’22.059
2 Jorge LORENZO Fiat Yamaha Team 159.9 +1.900
3 Valentino ROSSI Fiat Yamaha Team 159.8 +3.183
4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 159.6 +6.454
5 Casey STONER Ducati Team 158.9 +18.479
6 Ben SPIES Monster Yamaha Tech 3 158.3 +28.385
7 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 157.9 +34.934
8 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 157.8 +38.157
9 Hector BARBERA Paginas Amarillas Aspar 157.6 +40.943
10 Marco MELANDRI San Carlo Honda Gresini 157.5 +42.377
11 Aleix ESPARGARO Pramac Racing Team 157.3 +45.906
12 Hiroshi AOYAMA Interwetten Honda MotoGP 157.3 +46.394
13 Randy DE PUNIET LCR Honda MotoGP 157.0 +50.481
14 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 155.2 +1’23.143

Not Classified
Mika KALLIO Pramac Racing Team 155.3 11 Laps
Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 122.9 25 Laps
Loris CAPIROSSI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 0 Lap

Clouds and lower temperatures at the Misano circuit made for slightly different conditions than the last two days. Some weather forecasts predict rain showers for the afternoon which would shake up the MotoGP field a bit.

Alvaro finished the warm up in 13th position. Behind the top five riders there’s a small gap, but the rest of the field is again very close together and if all riders can keep their pace up, it should make for some very interesting racing later today.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’34.654
2 Jorge LORENZO Fiat Yamaha Team 1’34.803 0.149 / 0.149
3 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1’34.886 0.232 / 0.083
4 Valentino ROSSI Fiat Yamaha Team 1’35.220 0.566 / 0.334
5 Casey STONER Ducati Team 1’35.314 0.660 / 0.094
6 Randy DE PUNIET LCR Honda MotoGP 1’35.634 0.980 / 0.320
7 Ben SPIES Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’35.701 1.047 / 0.067
8 Loris CAPIROSSI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’35.716 1.062 / 0.015
9 Aleix ESPARGARO Pramac Racing Team 1’35.814 1.160 / 0.098
10 Hector BARBERA Paginas Amarillas Aspar 1’35.892 1.238 / 0.078
11 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’35.895 1.241 / 0.003
12 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’35.965 1.311 / 0.070
13 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’35.985 1.331 / 0.020
14 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’35.987 1.333 / 0.002
15 Marco MELANDRI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’36.074 1.420 / 0.087
16 Mika KALLIO Pramac Racing Team 1’36.394 1.740 / 0.320
17 Hiroshi AOYAMA Interwetten Honda MotoGP 1’36.715 2.061 / 0.321