I’ve americanized after a week in the USA, a Hollywood visit included. The crash in qualifying was bad, but worse was the one in the race when I was behind the factory Ducatis of Hayden and Rossi. Nevertheless, I am satisfied with the good feeling on the bike.

Americanized. Hi guys! Haha! I’m americanized now after I’ve been a week in the USA where I have done everything. Those of you who follow me on Twitter will know that I visited the factory of Troy Lee Designs, a sponsor of the team and well-known designer here. I rode motocross, the first time after the femur injury, but only to have some fun, nothing serious. I was also at Suzuki America for an autograph signing. I had the opportunity for some visits, a little bit; Los Angeles, I especially wanted to see Hollywood, is not like I expected…

Peculiar track. After all the visits it was time to focus on the GP, I was so eager after the last race to ride the bike. Laguna Seca is a very special circuit, unlike any other, with rather difficult corners, banked, flat, uphill, downhill, blind, where there’s practically just one good line and the rest doesn’t work. And if you add the weather here it gets more peculiar. Cold, cloudy and foggy until 11 or 12 o’clock and then you have to put sunscreen on because the sun burns, but does not get hot. Strange.

Crash. From the first session on we worked great, we modified the bike from last year to improve, because the references we had were not the best. I felt good on the bike, like at Sachsenring, and I could stay not far behind the front, just one second every session and the good thing is that it did not matter that it was cold in the morning and hot in the afternoon. But in qualifying I unfortunately crashed, I was eighth and had done my laptime with a soft tyre with 27 laps on it because we were testing if it would last the race. When I put on new tyres, with which it’d been relatively easy to improve the time, I crashed and lost four positions to finish 12th.

Behind the Ducati. Again far back on the grid, but with a good pace to try to start well and stick with the front, at least to fight for seventh place. I started fairly well, but when I was on the inside several riders closed the [first] corner and cut off my way, still I could move up some positions. After several laps I managed to get behind the factory Ducatis and I closed a gap of more than a second to them, running at a good pace, even faster than Dovizioso who was fourth. But when I was right behind Hayden and Rossi in turn two I lost the front wheel; it’s not so much that I lost it, it just slipped away and I couldn’t do anything to prevent the crash.

The softer one. Rage! I got very angry, because it would have been another good fight with them like in Germany, but mainly – it was not anyone’s fault – because we never tried the soft front tyre in the heat and I think if I had used that one it could have prevented the crash. I used it in the morning and it went well, but in the afternoon the track was always 50°C and in theory with that temperature you use the hard one, but we didn’t consider that the air was cold and cooled the tyres. A mistake to learn from for the future. You could say that’s the price paid for being the only rider of the team, because it is difficult to test so many things in one weekend. I must also say that in every session we went out with something modified, always trying to improve the bike, and maybe we forgot a bit about the tyres.

Good signs. I’m happy about the feeling this weekend, I’m getting more confident on the bike every time, I’m finding the limits and I think that is a good sign, it means that a lot can be improved. Although I have also that thorn in my side from being able to fight again for finishing sixth in this race, but best to forget about it and take away the positives.

Holidays. Now we have two weeks with no race, can you live without my column? Hahaha! I certainly can not endure so long without riding the bike, for me the GP in Brno could be next weekend. But it is also good to disconnect a little and I go home calmly, because I know we’re on a good way of work. Now relaxing, see family and friends, have fun with them and train hard for the second half of the season. We must continue to grow, that are my plans for these weeks. I wish you a happy summer full of fun! See you!

Source: AS.com

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!”

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

After a great start and working his way up to 8th position, having started from 12th on the grid, Alvaro once again found himself in a tight battle with the two factory Ducatis of Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden, but crashed out when he had just latched on to Hayden’s rear wheel, ruining every chance for a repeat of the great fight he had with the two at Sachsenring.

Fortunately Alvaro was unharmed in the crash, but clearly frustrated when sliding out, trying to get back on track quickly but to no avail. Regardless of the disappointing ending he showed a great pace once again and was comfortably able to fight for the lead in the third group with the Ducatis.

Now Alvaro and the Suzuki team have a break of two weeks before the next race in Brno.

Pos. Rider Team Time/Gap
1 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 43’52.145
2 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing +5.634
3 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team +9.467
4 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing +20.562
5 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team +20.885
6 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team +30.351
7 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team +31.031
8 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +45.502
9 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP +51.549
10 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini +1’08.850
11 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing +1’09.132
12 Loris CAPIROSSI Pramac Racing Team 1 Lap
13 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 1 Lap

Not Classified
Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 19 Laps
Ben BOSTROM LCR Honda MotoGP 24 Laps
Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 26 Laps
Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 29 Laps

Alvaro finished the warmup session for the US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca in 10th position, again not able to improve in the final minutes of the session and being pushed down two positions in the end. Overall he did show a consistent pace again and should be comfortably able to join the mid-pack battle later today.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1’21.747
2 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’21.995 0.248 / 0.248
3 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1’21.995 0.248
4 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’22.018 0.271 / 0.023
5 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’22.141 0.394 / 0.123
6 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’22.480 0.733 / 0.339
7 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’22.698 0.951 / 0.218
8 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’22.718 0.971 / 0.020
9 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’23.063 1.316 / 0.345
10 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’23.152 1.405 / 0.089
11 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’23.244 1.497 / 0.092
12 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’23.672 1.925 / 0.428
13 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 1’23.691 1.944 / 0.019
14 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’23.956 2.209 / 0.265
15 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 1’24.336 2.589 / 0.380
16 Loris CAPIROSSI Pramac Racing Team 1’24.895 3.148 / 0.559
17 Ben BOSTROM LCR Honda MotoGP 1’26.101 4.354 / 1.206
Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team

Alvaro scored his best result in a dry race this season at the Sachsenring last weekend. Here are some exclusive shots from the German Grand Prix.

Photo Copyright: Vroom Media

Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista was left disappointed at the end of today’s qualifying session after a high-speed crash ended his hopes of capitalising on three very strong practice sessions.

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.

Clear blue skies and bright sunshine were again the order of the day at the Californian circuit and World Champion Jorge Lorenzo on a Yamaha made full use of the conditions to record his second pole position of the season, with current championship leader Casey Stoner in second.

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!”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“There’s not much to add to what Álvaro has already said! It was a disappointing qualifying result after building speed so well over the rest of the weekend. Given that the tyre that we did our fastest time on had done 27-laps, it’s clear that we could have gone quite a bit faster than we did. The crash made things tough though, and it is what it is. The boys have a fair bit of work ahead of them to rebuild the bike, but we’re over it now and all looking forward to the race tomorrow.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

Another rather disappointing qualifying for Alvaro who looked set for a third row start but instead was bumped down to 12th position in the latter stages of the session after crashing out with 25 minutes left and then going back out on his second bike.
He never looked comfortable enough in the final minutes to improve and always was at least half a second away from his personal best. Sitting in 8th for most of the session he was subsequently relegated to 12th and will have to start tomorrow’s race from the outside of the fourth row.

Fortunately he walked away from the crash unharmed and showed a good pace before the off, so he should again be within a shot to fight mid-pack in the race tomorrow.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’21.202
2 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1’21.274 0.072 / 0.072
3 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’21.385 0.183 / 0.111
4 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’21.578 0.376 / 0.193
5 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’21.696 0.494 / 0.118
6 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1’21.731 0.529 / 0.035
7 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’22.235 1.033 / 0.504
8 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 1’22.238 1.036 / 0.003
9 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’22.271 1.069 / 0.033
10 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’22.385 1.183 / 0.114
11 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’22.520 1.318 / 0.135
12 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’22.669 1.467 / 0.149
13 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’22.893 1.691 / 0.224
14 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’22.937 1.735 / 0.044
15 Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 1’22.961 1.759 / 0.024
16 Loris CAPIROSSI Pramac Racing Team 1’23.876 2.674 / 0.915
17 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 1’24.156 2.954 / 0.280
18 Ben BOSTROM LCR Honda MotoGP 1’25.291 4.089 / 1.135

As is typical at Laguna Seca the morning session for the US Grand Prix again took place under very different weather conditions that yesterday’s second free practice with track temperatures being over 20°C cooler. Regardless of that Alvaro was able to further improve his laptime and finally break into the 1’22s, finishing the session in 9th position, just over a second behind fastest man Casey Stoner. Again he had trouble to improve at the end of the practice, losing out the most in the third sector of the track, but posting several laps in the high 1’22s, very close to his fastest laptime, confirming the consistency of his pace.

Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap
1. Casey Stoner Honda 1m21.806s
2. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m21.823s + 0.017s
3. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m21.855s + 0.049s
4. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda 1m22.222s + 0.416s
5. Ben Spies Yamaha 1m22.325s + 0.519s
6. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m22.356s + 0.550s
7. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m22.432s + 0.626s
8. Valentino Rossi Ducati 1m22.647s + 0.841s
9. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki 1m22.840s + 1.034s
10. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati 1m22.877s + 1.071s
11. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m23.062s + 1.256s
12. Randy de Puniet Pramac Ducati 1m23.080s + 1.274s
13. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m23.143s + 1.337s
14. Hiroshi Aoyama Gresini Honda 1m23.513s + 1.707s
15. Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati 1m23.544s + 1.738s
16. Loris Capirossi Pramac Ducati 1m24.038s + 2.232s
17. Toni Elias LCR Honda 1m24.056s + 2.250s
18. Ben Bostrom LCR Honda 1m25.934s + 4.128s