Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista looked set for the best MotoGP finish of his career so far at Brno until he crashed with only six laps remaining.

Bautista began the race from 14th on the grid and rode a superb first lap to put him up to 10th. On the fourth lap he moved in to seventh position and set about hunting down the leading group. He consistently recorded podium-position lap-times and joined a five man group that was battling for second. Bautista had closed the gap on Valentino Rossi and looked like he would make an attack in the closing stages of the race. As Bautista entered turn 13 on the 16th lap he lost the front tyre and slid in to the gravel. He was uninjured and retrieved his machine and re-mounted, but was unable to continue and rode back to the pits. He was visibly upset as he knew that he had the potential today to record a very good result.

The race was held in warm and sunny conditions and the 155,400 fans packed in to the Brno circuit saw Casey Stoner ride to a convincing victory to increase his lead at the top of the championship standings.

Rizla Suzuki now heads back over the Atlantic for the second race in five weeks in America, as the riders get ready to line up for the Indianapolis Grand Prix on Sunday 28th August.

Álvaro Bautista DNF:
“I have a strange feeling because I am frustrated that I didn’t finish after crashing, but I am also quite happy because I did all that was possible to stay with the front group. I was riding just a few seconds behind second position and, after starting from the back of the grid, I was pleased about that. I made a good start and got past some riders in the first few corners and before long I was behind the quick group. After that I pushed to my maximum – I was on the limit, but everything was under control – and then with six laps to go I crashed. I lost the front and it was strange because I entered the corner like the lap before and felt nothing wrong.
“I want to say thank-you to all the team and the sponsors for their confidence and support. I also want to say sorry because it has been a difficult weekend for everybody; we started with two bikes and only had one in the race and none at the end. We expected a good result here, but at the end we are very disappointed with what happened. We need to keep working well in the next few races, we have a good race pace and rhythm, but we need to improve in qualifying because starting from the back means I have to give more effort at the start to catch the front group. I think if we start nearer the front we can stay with the group a lot easier, and the results will come.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“John Hopkins told me after Friday that the Rizla Suzuki had improved so much since Jerez – and that it was capable of fighting for the podium. This was a nice thing for Suzuki’s engineers to hear, and it confirmed – alongside the potential recently shown by Álvaro – that the new chassis, new electronics strategies and new setting direction was correct. So to end up here on Sunday afternoon with John in a cast and Álvaro in the gravel – after a stirring display – is so depressing. We are all working hard to get the best results possible and to keep Suzuki in MotoGP – we need a little luck!
“Álvaro crashed with six laps to go, that’s the reality and we are sorry to all our sponsors, fans and friends of the team. However, the race statistics do show more of the potential:
- We started 14th and we were 10th at the end of lap one, and seventh at the end of lap four. The only place gifted to us was Dani’s crash.
- Álvaro’s average lap-time until the crash was faster than Jorge, Ben, and Valentino, and was 0.2 from Andrea and Marco, despite the traffic caused by the starting position.
- Álvaro’s average lap-time was 1.8 seconds faster per lap than 2010.
- On laps 8,9,10 and 12 Álvaro was the second fastest rider on the track, and was the third fastest on lap 11.
- Before the crash, Álvaro was only three seconds back from P2.
- Álvaro’s best top speed over the weekend was fourth fastest at 298.3km/h, only 2.7km/h slower than the best.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki

Rizla Suzuki completed most of its full test programme and acquired a large amount of data from Monday’s test at the Brno circuit before rain brought the day’s proceedings to a premature end.

Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista were joined at the 5,403m Czech Republic track by Alstare Suzuki World Superbike rider Sylvain Guintoli, who was called up to provide cover for the test if Bautista was unable to participate following his huge crash in Saturday’s practice.

Capirossi and Bautista were able to test many new and revised parts for the Suzuki GSV-R including two new chassis, new Ohlins forks and updated engine management programmes. Guintoli was able to complete three runs to get some data for his riding style early in the morning. The talented Frenchman was then scheduled to do a longer test run in the afternoon, but the rain intervened and ruined any chance he had of assisting with further evaluation of the GSV-R.

Rizla Suzuki will now assess the information from the test and hopefully be able to make some important steps and decisive changes in-time for the next round of the season at Indianapolis in America on Sunday 29th August. Guintoli will next be in WSB action on his Suzuki GSX-R1000 at Nurburgring in Germany on Sunday 5th September.

Álvaro Bautista:
“The test was very short for me, because I felt a lot worse than I did on Sunday during the race. Today we wanted to do a full comparison of two different chassis and we were able to at least do that. I noticed an improvement in the exit of the corner with the new one, the bike had more stability. We still need to test it further and find out what the true potential is, but overall it was a good test and hopefully with what we found we can make a big difference.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

After the Czech GP on Sunday the highly anticipated post-race test took place at Brno yesterday. It is the last official test for the MotoGP teams this season and with Suzuki currently struggling with their performance, they had a lot of new parts and configurations to test in order to try and catch up with the other manufacturers for the rest of the season.
Following his horrifying crash in Saturday morning’s free practice session, Alvaro didn’t ride his bike much during the test. Instead the team brought current World Superbike rider Sylvain Guintoli on board who shared the bike and the workload with Alvaro. Guintoli has extensive experience in the MotoGP championship and did his best to help the team get all the scheduled work done. Alvaro only rode 24 laps in the morning session – the least laps of all riders – and didn’t go out again for the afternoon session, to further recover from the back injuries he sustained.
The afternoon session was also cut short by rain, forcing all riders back into the pits and ending the day about three hours early. Not the best conditions for Suzuki to test everything they brought to Brno. New parts and adjustments they tested included a new fairing, a brandnew and a modified chassis, different forks, an aerodynamics package and some electronics changes. Due to Alvaro being injured most of the work again fell back on his teammate Loris Capirossi.

Pedrosa and Simoncelli were the only crashers during the test, both walking away unhurt, and Randy De Puniet sat the day out to give his leg some rest and not having any new parts to test anyway.

The fastest laptime of the day:

Pos Rider Bike Time Diff
1 Jorge LORENZO YAMAHA 1’56.269
2 Casey STONER DUCATI 1’56.844 0.575
3 Dani PEDROSA HONDA TEST 1’56.944 0.675
4 Valentino ROSSI YAMAHA 1’57.129 0.860
5 Dani PEDROSA HONDA 1’57.424 1.155
6 Colin EDWARDS YAMAHA 1’57.512 1.243
7 Andrea DOVIZIOSO HONDA 1’57.691 1.422
8 Loris CAPIROSSI SUZUKI 1’57.700 1.431
9 Ben SPIES YAMAHA 1’57.753 1.484
10 Nicky HAYDEN DUCATI 1’57.991 1.722
11 Hector BARBERA DUCATI 1’58.017 1.748
12 Marco MELANDRI HONDA 1’58.070 1.801
13 Marco SIMONCELLI HONDA 1’58.160 1.891
14 Aleix ESPARGARO DUCATI 1’58.612 2.343
15 Hiroshi AOYAMA HONDA 1’58.830 2.561
16 Mika KALLIO DUCATI 1’58.926 2.657
17 Alvaro Bautista SUZUKI 1’59.454 3.185
18 Sylvain Guintoli SUZUKI 2’01.474 5.205

This year will be the 41st occasion that a Grand Prix event will have been staged at Brno. The first Grand Prix to be held at Brno was back in 1965 on the old road circuit which measured 13.94 km. The circuit remained essentially the same until 1975, when it was shortened to the 10.92 km circuit that was used up until 1982, at which time it was deemed no longer up to the safety standards required for Grand Prix racing.

The current circuit was first used for a Grand Prix in 1987 and has been visited every year since with the exception of 1992. Of the current circuits only Assen has hosted more Grand Prix events than Brno. Originally, the event held at Brno was the Grand Prix of Czechoslovakia, until 1991 when the country was divided and the Czech Republic was formed.

Below is a selection of highlights and milestone races from the previous Grand Prix events at the current Brno circuit:

• 1987 – The first 500cc race to be held at the current Brno circuit was won by Wayne Gardner (Honda) from his great rival Eddie Lawson (Yamaha).
• 1988 – Jorge Martinez (Derbi) won both the 125cc and 80cc races on his way to taking the world titles in both classes. This was the last ever occasion that a rider has won two Grand Prix races on the same day.
• 1989 – Kevin Schwantz took the win in the 500cc race from fellow American riders Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey. This is the only win for Suzuki at the current Brno circuit.
• 1991 – Alessandro Gramigni scored his first ever GP victory, which was also the first ever win in the 125cc class for Aprilia.
• 1993 – In the 500cc class, Wayne Rainey won from Yamaha team-mate Luca Cadalora. This was Rainey’s last ever race win, just two weeks before his career-ending crash at Misano.
• 1994 – Max Biaggi riding an Aprilia won the 250cc Grand Prix at Brno. Biaggi went on to take three more victo- ries in the 250cc class at the Czech GP and then added three more wins in the premier-class, making him equal with Valentino Rossi with seven wins, the two most successful riders at the current Brno circuit.
• 1996 – Valentino Rossi won the 125cc GP at Brno riding an Aprilia – his first ever Grand Prix win. The 500cc race ended with Alex Criville taking the win from team-mate Mick Doohan by just 0.002 seconds in one of the closest finishes of all time.
• 1998 – Max Biaggi (Honda), in his debut season in the 500cc class, won for the second time in 1998 – a victory often remembered for the near-vertical wheelie over the finish line.
• 1999 – Championship leader in the 125cc class, Masao Azuma, survived a spectacular crash virtually uninjured during practice when he collided with a young deer that had strayed onto the track.
• 2001 – Valentino Rossi (Honda) won the 500cc race to become the first rider to win in all three Grand Prix classes at the current Brno circuit.
• 2006 – Loris Capirossi’s MotoGP victory at Brno in 2006 came 16 years and 15 days after his first GP victory in the 125cc race at Donington in 1990, giving him the longest winning career in Grand Prix racing. The top 15 ri- ders across the line were covered by just 29.296 seconds; the closest top fifteen of all time in the premier-class.
• 2007 – Casey Stoner (Ducati) dominated the MotoGP race at Brno with a start to finish win from pole position. In second place was John Hopkins, taking his best ever Grand Prix result.
• 2008 – Valentino Rossi’s winning margin of 15.004 seconds at the Czech Grand Prix in 2008 is the biggest ever winning margin in the four-stroke MotoGP era in a dry weather race.
• 2009 – With his win in the MotoGP race, Valentino Rossi became the rider with most podium finishes in the history of Grand Prix racing with a total of 160.

Source: motogp.com