Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista both crashed out of today’s Czech Republic Grand Prix at either end of the 22-lap race with both riders able to walk away uninjured from their respective incidents.

Bautista battled heroically for the whole 22-laps as he fought against the pain caused by yesterday’s huge high-side and the other riders on track. Despite starting from the back of the grid he caught the battle for eighth position before the half-way point of the race. Bautista was fighting with the group and as the last lap arrived he was close enough to challenge Marco Simoncelli. He made a strong passing manoeuvre in the last corner and although he got past Simoncelli he lost the front of the bike and also slid into the gravel – as Capirossi had done earlier. Bautista was visibly disappointed with the outcome of the race after such a brave effort had proved fruitless in the end.

Today’s Brno Grand Prix was watched by nearly 150,000 people at trackside and they witnessed Jorge Lorenzo provide another commanding performance on his Yamaha to win his seventh race of the season and strengthen his grip at the top of the championship.

Rizla Suzuki will remain at Brno for a full day’s testing tomorrow as they try to unlock the potential of the Suzuki GSV-R and put today’s frustrations behind them. The next round of the MotoGP World Championship will require another crossing of the Atlantic, as the field prepares to line-up for the Indianapolis Grand Prix in America on Sunday 29th August.

Álvaro Bautista:
“The crash was a big disappointment for me as I went to overtake Simoncelli, because at the beginning of race I didn’t know what my condition would be at the end and I was pleased that I felt strong enough to make the move. The first few laps were difficult because I’d only had about 40 minutes of dry practice all weekend and needed to get my reference points sorted out. The pain was horrible but I was able to start to push and in the middle of the race I was in the group challenging for eighth position, which was not too bad. After about half of the race my body started to tire and although I was pushing to the maximum, when I came up to other riders it was difficult to pass because I was at my physical limit. I would have liked to finish this race as this is now three consecutive races that I have failed to complete. The rest of the race was not too bad and compared to other riders my rhythm was good. I hope for the next race in America to make a complete weekend and continue with my progression in MotoGP.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“In sport you have to make your own luck, but it really feels like we need to go to a Church and have a word with someone who can maybe help us out a little bit! Absolutely nothing seemed to go right here at Brno and the most disappointing thing is that without question the bike and riders had the capability to challenge for a top-six position. Álvaro made a heroic effort, we have to remember that he was in great discomfort and had only spent about 45 minutes practice time in the dry compared to everyone else’s three hours. Once he found his rhythm the bike was working well, his speed was good and he’d clawed his way into contention for an excellent finish. His commitment to catching and passing Simoncelli on the last lap was obvious and he nearly made it happen, but asked a bit too much of the front tyre in the final left. It was extremely disappointing, but we have to respect a superb effort.
“The result today doesn’t reflect anywhere near our potential and we’re going to work positively at the test tomorrow and set our sights on realising the true capability of the GSV-R, Loris and Álvaro for the rest of the season.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

Alvaro crashed out of the Czech GP at Brno today in the last corner after he had just passed Simoncelli for 11th place. But despite that crash he did a great race until that point. Without having qualified yesterday he started the race from last position on the grid and fell back about two seconds in the early stages. But after only a few laps he started to constantly go laptimes quicker than everyone in front of him up to 8th position. And this is after having only one full practice session overall and while riding in pain. With several other riders crashing out he’d still been able to rake in some points while going calmly at the back of the field, but instead he decided to fight for the Top 10 positions. He passed several riders on his way up to 12th positions and had Simoncelli, who was going slower than everyone behind him for most of the time, firmly in his sight in the last lap. He passed him in the last lap for 11th, but then crashed out. He doesn’t seem to have aggravated his injuries in the crash, he got up immediately afterwards and was more angry with himself than anything else and he should be okay for Indianapolis in two weeks time.

In any case, despite the final result it’s been a very spirited race by Alvaro and a joy to watch his progress.

Pos. Rider Team Km/h Time/Gap
1 Jorge LORENZO Fiat Yamaha Team 164.4 43’22.638
2 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 164.1 +5.494
3 Casey STONER Ducati Team 163.7 +11.426
4 Ben SPIES Monster Yamaha Tech 3 163.6 +13.723
5 Valentino ROSSI Fiat Yamaha Team 163.3 +17.930
6 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 162.7 +26.815
7 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 162.3 +33.396
8 Marco MELANDRI San Carlo Honda Gresini 162.0 +39.406
9 Hector BARBERA Paginas Amarillas Aspar 162.0 +39.639
10 Randy DE PUNIET LCR Honda MotoGP 161.9 +40.893
11 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 161.8 +42.032
12 Aleix ESPARGARO Pramac Racing Team 161.5 +47.091
13 Alex DE ANGELIS Interwetten Honda MotoGP 161.2 +51.368

Not Classified
Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 161.8 1 Lap
Mika KALLIO Pramac Racing Team 160.9 15 Laps
Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 149.7 16 Laps
Loris CAPIROSSI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 151.5 21 Laps

Alvaro was finally out on track again after his heavy crash yesterday that left his back severly bruised and sore. He took a cautious few laps in the warmup to assess his level of fitness and we will see how he can hold up for the whole race distance later today.

The warm up session started under already very grey skies and with high humidity, but stayed dry until the final two minutes when it started pouring down heavily from one second to the next. All riders except Simoncelli made it safely back into the pits on their slick tyres.

The race is scheduled to start at 2PM local time today.

Pos Rider Bike Time Diff Diff Previous
1 Andrea DOVIZIOSO HONDA 2’10.135
2 Dani PEDROSA HONDA 2’11.817 1.682 1.682
3 Casey STONER DUCATI 2’11.817 1.682 0.000
4 Jorge LORENZO YAMAHA 2’11.869 1.734 0.052
5 Marco MELANDRI HONDA 2’12.129 1.994 0.260
6 Mika KALLIO DUCATI 2’12.138 2.003 0.009
7 Nicky HAYDEN DUCATI 2’12.156 2.021 0.018
8 Alex DEANGELIS HONDA 2’12.829 2.694 0.673
9 Colin EDWARDS YAMAHA 2’13.053 2.918 0.224
10 Loris CAPIROSSI SUZUKI 2’13.284 3.149 0.231
11 Randy DEPUNIET HONDA 2’13.450 3.315 0.166
12 Aleix ESPARGARO DUCATI 2’13.650 3.515 0.200
13 Hector BARBERA DUCATI 2’13.686 3.551 0.036
14 Marco SIMONCELLI HONDA 2’13.765 3.630 0.079
15 Ben SPIES YAMAHA 2’13.917 3.782 0.152
16 Valentino ROSSI YAMAHA 2’16.185 6.050 2.268
17 Alvaro BAUTISTA SUZUKI 2’17.877 7.742 1.692

Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi will start tomorrow’s Czech Republic Grand Prix from the front of the fourth row after qualifying in 10th place, whilst team-mate Álvaro Bautista will start from 17th place after a crash in this morning’s practice forced him to miss this afternoon’s qualifying session.

Bautista missed the qualifying this afternoon because the Spaniard was still in the Brno hospital when the session started. He suffered a 140km/h high-side in this morning’s practice session and early indications showed that he might have a severe spinal injury. Bautista was taken straight to the hospital, but further examinations and a CT scan showed no fractures and just some heavy bruising to his back. Bautista will take to the track in tomorrow’s warm-up session and if he shows no ill effects he will be able to start from 17th on the grid, due to him posting a time in the practice session better than the qualification maximum from this afternoon.

Today’s qualifying was held in dry conditions with track temperatures getting up to 38ºC. Dani Pedrosa recorded the fastest time of the day to give him his third pole-position of the season.

Tomorrow’s race is the 10th round of the season and both Rizla Suzuki racers will be looking to line-up on the grid as the lights change to go at 14,00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT).

Álvaro Bautista:
“Fortunately there is nothing broken, so this is the most important thing and tomorrow I will try and do the race. The crash was because as I entered turn three I lost rear grip and I couldn’t do anything about it. I did a big jump in the air and I could do nothing to save it. Tomorrow morning I hope I feel much better and I will try to race because I need to do as many kilometres as I can.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“The best news from the qualifying session didn’t even come from the race-track, it was the report back from the hospital that Álvaro’s CT scan had shown no broken or damaged vertebrae and apart from severe bruising he’s fine and will attempt to race tomorrow. After the bad luck he’s had with injuries this year it’s nice to have the roll-of-the-dice for once and that he won’t be forced to miss the next few races is a big boost.

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

Before his nasty crash in FP2 at Brno in which he banged up his back severly, but which he fortunately escaped without any fractures, Alvaro was interviewed by the German-language Motorsport Magazin and talked about how his season went so far and what he expects for the future. For the most part it’s well known stuff, but interesting to read regardless.

Let’s start with the difficult part: It’s your Rookie season and it’s probably been a bit more difficult for you than expected. Can you describe it from your view?
Alvaro Bautista: Sure, it was much more difficult than I expected. In the first few races I felt that we made good progress. But after Jerez I crashed while practising motocross and got injured. I lost a few races because of that and also the rhythm. I had to start again from zero, try again to get a feeling for the bike. Okay, Barcelona was very nice [he finished 5th]. But in the last two races I had crashes which weren’t my fault. Now it depends on me improving myself further.

Does the experience of Loris Capirossi help you?
Alvaro Bautista: Yes. He has a lot of knowledge and experience and he’s very nice to me. And when I have a problem with the bike or the setup I can go over and ask him. He’s happy to help me out and this is of course good for me. I’m very happy to have him as my teammate. He’s got so much experience with the bike and he knows so much about the setup and how to ride and this is really good. I’m more than happy about that.

Paul Denning and the team often say that you’re doing a good job and learn quickly. Does this give you confidence when other people say this about you?
Alvaro Bautista: Sure it’s nice when people say something like this. Okay, I know we have some problems with the bike and I still need to learn. But we’re all working extremely hard and I’m really happy with the team.

Are you satisfied when the team praises your work and says you’re good?
Alvaro Bautista: We all push very hard to achieve something great. I always try to do a good job.

How are your injuries? Is it especially difficult to ride a MotoGP bike when you’re injured?
Alvaro Bautista: We’ve seen with Valentino and others that it is possible. It’s always difficult to ride a MotoGP bike, but with injuries it’s really very, very hard.

You’ve won in 125cc and 250cc. Do you think you can win in MotoGP with Suzuki?
Alvaro Bautista: I hope so! I will try. I want to continue like before, continue to improve myself, develop the bike and then win races some time, of course.

One of your problems is the lack of grip. What could be improved about the bike? Does it need to be better on a whole, do you need more power?
Alvaro Bautista: I’m not completely sure. What I do know is that, when I ride it I, I feel like our problem is that we can’t make the tyres work. They need to be really used up before they work for us. That is our problem.

Do you think the testing limitation are hitting Suzuki especially hard, because you already have to catch up with the others?
Alvaro Bautista: Yes, the thing is that we have so many things to test and we need some help to get closer to the others.

So it is more difficult, because you can’t test so much, I guess?
Alvaro Bautista: Yes, this year it’s been difficult, because I need more kilometres on the bike. But anyway, that’s the situation and we have to get the best out of it.

Not long ago you’ve been 125cc world champion. What do you think about the bikes disappearing in 2012 and being replaced by Moto3?
Alvaro Bautista: I don’t know, it will be a completely different class, like 250cc and Moto2. Of course I prefer the 125cc bikes, because to start out on them it was just perfect for the riders. But surely the Moto3 will be good too. When you switch from two-strikes to four-strokes you feel a big difference, but when you start out on four-strokes right away, maybe it’ll get easier to ride in MotoGP as well.

You’re still at the very beginning of your MotoGP career and of course you’ll want to win the title one day. But is there something else you want to achieve in racing, other than the title?
Alvaro Bautista: No, this is exactly my dream. When I was in 125cc, it was my dream to become world champion. When I became world champion there, my dream was to come to MotoGP. Now I am here. My next dream now is to become world champion here. But I also have to be happy now to be where I am, because the best racers of the world are here. It will be hard work, but I am confident that I can fulfill my dream.

Do you have any idols inside or outside of racing?
Alvaro Bautista: Idols, no. When I was a kid I liked Mick Doohan. But now I don’t have any idols.

And outside of racing?
Alvaro Bautista: Neither, because all my idols are actually my friends, like Rafa Nadal or Alberto Contador.

Source: Motosport-Magazin.com
Translated by the crew of www.alvarobautista.co.uk and www.batifans.com

It appears things have turned around a bit for the positive now. Various news reports say that Alvaro is not as heavily injured as initially feared, there are no fractures and his CT scan came back clear. However, he’s taken a heavy hit to his back and got some severe bruising that will certainly need some treatment with painkillers and physiotherapy. He is currently on his way back to the circuit and might even attempt to take a qualifying lap around the circuit. If he doesn’t qualify today but gets the green light from the Clinica Mobile tomorrow, then he should be able to still get on the grid via special exception from race direction as he was within qualifying time in both FP1 and FP2.

We will keep you updated.

Saturday morning got off to a really bad start for Alvaro who crashed heavily in turn 3 and had to be carried away on a stretcher. He was shown waving to the camera and moving around when he was rolled into the Clinica Mobile, but as of now it is not clear if or how heavily he is injured and if he can continue the weekend.

There’s still been no replay of the crash itself, but it’s been the first flying lap for Alvaro after his outlap which would suggest an issue with cold tyres.

The temperatures at Brno are considerably colder this morning than they were for the first practice yesterday and heavy fog delayed the start of all practices today. Alvaro had been in the box for a while and just came back on track when the crash happend.

He was only shown lying in the gravel afterwards and stretchered away. He was wearing a neck brace on the way to the Clinica Mobile, but that might have been only a precautionary measure.

As soon as news emerge we will keep you updated.

UPDATE1: First sources from the Clinica on Twitter suggest Bati might have taken a hard hit on his back and some bruising, but no serious injury. But the medical helicopter is on standby, just in case. Here’s hoping.

UPDATE2: As suspected, Alvaro is now being taken to the Brno hospital for further checkups and X-rays. We keep our fingers crossed that the results will be positive. It is possible that Alvaro will miss the qualifying, but in case he’s fit to ride and gets the green light from the medical team, race direction should allow him to start the race tomorrow.

UPDATE3: It seems confirmed now that Alvaro will miss the rest of the weekend at Brno. Even though there’s been no official confirmation of the extend of his injuries by now, he has a suspected trauma of the first lumbar vertebra. He is currently undergoing further CT scans. An official announcement should follow soon.

Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista recorded the 10th fastest time around the 5,403m Brno circuit in the Czech Republic during today’s first practice session.

Bautista (1’59.204, 18 laps) only used the harder compound rear tyre during the first three-quarters of the hour-long session and produced competitive lap-times. He was just about to test the softer option, but his plans were thwarted as rain began to fall and forced Bautista and most other riders to end the session early.

Today’s practice was held in overcast conditions that produced light rain towards the end of the session. The quickest time of the day was set by Jorge Lorenzo on his Factory Yamaha.

Rizla Suzuki has one more practice session tomorrow morning followed by qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday’s 22-lap race is round 10 of the Championship and gets going at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT).

Álvaro Bautista:
“It is good to get back to work after a short holiday and the first practice was not too bad for us. I started with the hard rear tyre and I didn’t feel like I had much grip and it felt like I lost traction a few times. We are working to improve this problem and in the last 15 minutes of the session we were going to test the softer tyre, but it started to rain so I couldn’t compare the different tyres. Tomorrow I hope we have good weather so I can test the soft rear and improve the grip to the back of the bike.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“Both guys started on the harder rear tyre option, which seemed to work reasonably well at the start of the session, but became more difficult as conditions cooled off. Unfortunately neither Álvaro nor Loris got to use the softer rear, which the majority of the field were using to make better lap-times. We are not quite where we want to be, but we are also not too far away. We’re hoping for consistent conditions tomorrow so that the guys can get the absolute best out of the bikes and settings in preparation for Sunday’s race.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

Not a bad start to the weekend for Alvaro who finished the first practice in 10th position. The session was cut short after a few raindrops started to fall with about 15 minutes still on the clock when a lot of riders where sitting in their boxes. When they got back out most were only cruising around and quickly coming back in, only a few riders used the final minutes of the session to practice their starts.
For most of the practice Alvaro was well within the Top 10 position, again clocking very constant laptimes and looking comfortable with his pace. Unfortunately it wasn’t possible for any rider to improve towards the end of the session due to the weather conditions and with rain predicted for Saturday and Sunday it will be very interesting to see where everyone will end up. For now it’s been a good start for Alvaro and we’re hoping he can find his way around the track even better in qualifying and race.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Jorge LORENZO Fiat Yamaha Team 1’57.215
2 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’57.756 0.541 / 0.541
3 Valentino ROSSI Fiat Yamaha Team 1’57.821 0.606 / 0.065
4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1’57.873 0.658 / 0.052
5 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’58.286 1.071 / 0.413
6 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’58.497 1.282 / 0.211
7 Casey STONER Ducati Team 1’58.532 1.317 / 0.035
8 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’58.840 1.625 / 0.308
9 Ben SPIES Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’58.970 1.755 / 0.130
10 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’59.204 1.989 / 0.234
11 Loris CAPIROSSI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’59.216 2.001 / 0.012
12 Aleix ESPARGARO Pramac Racing Team 1’59.254 2.039 / 0.038
13 Mika KALLIO Pramac Racing Team 1’59.289 2.074 / 0.035
14 Marco MELANDRI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’59.510 2.295 / 0.221
15 Hector BARBERA Paginas Amarillas Aspar 1’59.910 2.695 / 0.400
16 Randy DE PUNIET LCR Honda MotoGP 2’00.184 2.969 / 0.274
17 Alex DE ANGELIS Interwetten Honda MotoGP 2’01.098 3.883 / 0.914

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP is eager to get back in to action this coming weekend as the MotoGP season re-commences at Brno in the Czech Republic after its mid-season break.

Álvaro Bautista and Loris Capirossi are both looking forward to getting to grips with the 5,403m Czech circuit, as it is a track that the pair have both enjoyed success at in recent seasons. Bautista won at Brno in the 125cc class in 2006 and finished second and third in 2008 and 2009 respectively in the 250cc category. He will certainly be aiming to put the memories of the last two MotoGPs behind him, where he was eliminated in both races by other riders.

The Automotodrom Brno is situated in the area of Kyvalka, about 16kms from Brno city centre. The present Brno Grand Prix circuit was built in 1987 and is located in woodland near to the old street circuit which previously staged the event. It is one of the highest attended races of the year, with a crowd of over a quarter-of-a-million possible during the weekend.

Rizla Suzuki gets the weekend underway with the first free practice session on Friday afternoon. The final practice will be on Saturday morning, with qualifying held in the afternoon. The 22-lap race gets going at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT) on Sunday 15th August.

Álvaro Bautista:
“I am very fired up for Brno; I need to get back on the bike and racing again. I feel as fit as I have done all season and want to use this race as the ‘new start’ of the year. I don’t really like the Brno circuit, but it is a lot like Barcelona so I feel confident that I can go well there. I still have a lot to learn, but I hope this will be the start of a good run-in to the end of the season and we can get some good results and keep improving with every race. The whole Rizla Suzuki team has been fantastic since I joined and has made me very welcome and been very professional and patient with me even while I was injured, so it is now time for me to start giving them something back and Brno will be a good place to start.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP