Replies: 4
Views: 49
Last Post By: stv21 ON: Sat Mar 13, 2010 1:28 pm
Topic By: stv21 ON: Sat Mar 13, 2010 1:28 pm
More news from Hungary seem to support the previous doubts. There've been some follow-up reports in the English-speaking media after the first report which indicated that everything's just peachy anyway, mostly following the statements of some Dorna officials.

Now the word is different I'd say. On Thursday the government coordinator of the Balatonring project, Tamás Suchmann, receded from his office and just a day later it was made public that the Hungarian development bank will indeed NOT finance the project because of a lack of guarantees.

Seeing that there's now no money to build the thing in the first place, I'm pretty much looking for the flight costs to Motorland Aragon already...

Source: http://www.motorsport-magazin.com/motor ... nicht.html

Replies: 0
Views: 4
Last Post By: stv21 ON: Sat Mar 13, 2010 1:14 pm
Topic By: stv21 ON: Sat Mar 13, 2010 1:14 pm
The new bicycle racing team Ciclos Ébora-Cafés Camali had their official presentation in Talavera de la Reina yesterday and among the various famous guests from the region was Alvaro Bautista.
Seizing the opportunity, many of the attending journalists had a quick talk with Alvaro after the presentation, including the local newspaper La Tribuna de Talavera which published Alvaro’s statements today.

Ahead of the third and final preseason test in Qatar the questions logically revolved around Alvaro’s first impressions of the class and his expectations for the 2010 season. But understandably, Alvaro’s hesitant to make any predictions yet. “Of course this year will be a learning year and everything that happens will be welcome. Above all I will work with this philosophy; I’m gonna learn and try to enjoy riding, I don’t need to force a certain result.”
His reasoning behind this is simple: “There are other riders who fight for the championship and those are the ones who have to work hard for that. But for me there will be a lot of new experiences and I have to get used to these new impressions.”

Talking about championship candidates, Alvaro believes there’ll be the same four riders at the front as last year – Rossi, Stoner, Lorenzo & Pedrosa – but at the same time “it’s important not to write anyone off.”
He is of course very excited about his first season in MotoGP, “because MotoGP is the highest you can get in racing and here you have the best riders of the world.”
However, while he respects the other riders on the grid, he doesn’t fear them: “Once you are on the track it doesn’t matter whether it’s Valentino Rossi, Stoner or Lorenzo; we are riders who are there to win and fight with each other. For me all are equal; the exceptional thing here is that the level is very high and the category is very tight; but other than that it is the same to me whether it’s Valentino Rossi or, for example, Mika Kallio; it’s another rider and it’s necessary to beat him.”

And that first race of the season can’t come quick enough for Alvaro who’s already counting the days. “I can hardly wait for the first race! The testing is great to get more kilometers on the bike, but the adrenalin of the races, the tension, the passion you have in a competition, you can’t have that during training. I have a lot more fun during the races, but I have to be patient, there’s still one more test to go and it’s important to take another step forward to go to the first race with the best possible preparation.”

But for Alvaro it is still too soon to make any predictions for results: “If you told me right now that I would get into the Top 10, I wouldn’t agree with you, because I have not arrived at the limit yet and I don’t know what results I can fight for. I want to achieve the maximum and when I’ve reached the limit of the bike and myself, I will see what I can aspire to and if I am able to reach my goals. When I know what I can fight for, we will see if I’ll be among the Top 10, the Top 5 or the Top 15, I just don’t know right now.”

So far he considers his preseason to have been a positive one, but still with a lot of room for improvement: “We can see the progression, little by little I adapt to the category and every time I ride the bike it feels a bit easier. We have only one last test left in Qatar which will be at night. The goal there is to continue improving and to feel more comfortable riding the bike. The first test in Malaysia was like the first time on the bike, because I had two months without riding the bike and it seemed completely new to me all over again, too much power, the weight of the bike…. but the second test in Sepang showed some progression. I understood what I need to do and what not to ride the bike the way I want.”

Also the work with the Suzuki factory and team leaves Alvaro very satisfied. “They try to give me everything I ask for and it is very pleasant to work with a factory.” Since Suzuki celebrates its 50th anniversary in racing this year “it would be great to get some good results. I have Capirossi as my teammate and he is the one who can fight at the front. I will try to give my best; when I’ve reached the limit with this bike, I will see if I can get some good results.”

Alvaro will fly to Qatar at the beginning of next week for the last test of the 2010 preseason which commences with test riders only on Wednesday, 17th March, and then see the factory riders on track on Thursday and Friday.

Translation by me.
Source: http://www.latribunadetalavera.es/notic ... 6BED4E9BCD

Replies: 83
Views: 732
Last Post By: stv21 ON: Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:06 am
Topic By: stv21 ON: Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:06 am
@neil: Very much agreed, the rear does look a tad odd. The colour should indeed be darker than in previous years though since even the official press release mentioned a "new shade of Rizla blue". As long as it's not the awfully bright baby blue we've seen before, I'm happy...

Replies: 83
Views: 732
Last Post By: stv21 ON: Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:06 am
Topic By: Doodle ON: Sat Mar 13, 2010 7:53 am
Ohhh, like the shade of blue, just hope that it's not the photo making it look like that!

And I agree about the position of the 19 - it does look a little odd

Replies: 83
Views: 732
Last Post By: stv21 ON: Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:06 am
Topic By: Neilr68 ON: Fri Mar 12, 2010 10:41 pm
Style looks much the same as last year,i hope that is a deeper blue,i think it might just be the photo though,we have had Rizla Suzuki for years in BSB and the colour was lighter than shown.But there again that blue on Bati's bike reminds of the the old Suzuki blue

And i really wish they would redesign the tailpiece!!

Replies: 83
Views: 732
Last Post By: stv21 ON: Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:06 am
Topic By: ScottishStonerFan ON: Fri Mar 12, 2010 7:33 pm

looks good to me I really like that shade of blue [they must have had a look at this site before choosing the livery! ]

Replies: 83
Views: 732
Last Post By: stv21 ON: Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:06 am
Topic By: AlvaroII ON: Fri Mar 12, 2010 1:11 pm



i like the colour but the bike is hideous

the shape is horrible

Replies: 83
Views: 732
Last Post By: stv21 ON: Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:06 am
Topic By: stv21 ON: Fri Mar 12, 2010 10:49 am


Have to agree with you on both. I think the constant whinging about the horrible Rizla colour finally got to someone in the design department and they decided in favour of the fans. I hope this means the leathers and team gear will be a bit darker as well. It's not my favourite shade of blue yet, but they're getting there and I can totally live with that improvement.
Not sure about the number placement either, looks weird. In general it looks a bit like the actual transparent part of the screen has gotten a good bit smaller this year with some of the side stickers a bit higher up as well.
I'm curious to see whether or not the numbers on the back will stay during the season or maybe get replaced with sponsors stickers or something else.

Replies: 83
Views: 732
Last Post By: stv21 ON: Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:06 am
Topic By: yagahara ON: Fri Mar 12, 2010 10:43 am
looks good to me I really like that shade of blue [they must have had a look at this site before choosing the livery! ]
the only thing I don't like is the 19 so high up above the Rizla sign on the front -- couldn't they place it somewhere else?

Replies: 83
Views: 732
Last Post By: stv21 ON: Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:06 am
Topic By: stv21 ON: Fri Mar 12, 2010 10:07 am
First pics of Alvaro's official 2010 design:

Replies: 4
Views: 132
Last Post By: Neilr68 ON: Thu Mar 11, 2010 7:26 pm
Topic By: Neilr68 ON: Thu Mar 11, 2010 7:26 pm
I see the long version is now available.I dont have a pass for Moto gp videos so i don't know if my question was asked or not.Anyone know where i can see it for free!!

Replies: 4
Views: 132
Last Post By: Neilr68 ON: Thu Mar 11, 2010 7:26 pm
Topic By: Mickgee77 ON: Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:26 pm

"We change it after every crash" - So, every weekend that is, yes?

Replies: 4
Views: 132
Last Post By: Neilr68 ON: Thu Mar 11, 2010 7:26 pm
Topic By: stv21 ON: Mon Mar 08, 2010 3:22 pm
They've published a short version of the "Ask the Rookies" answers as a free video - and it includes my question for Alvaro. (though the second part of the question is missing)

http://www.motogp.com/en/videos/2010/As ... rt+version

I love how his face lights up and the smile comes out the moment he hears the word "Talavera", such a lucky town to have inhabitants like him.
And is it just me or do the questions for Alvaro and Hiroshi seem to be the only ones specifically for them? The rest sound a bit generic to me, like they could have been asked of anyone. I think it's hilarious though that they ask Tonto of all people about the safety gear... "We change it after every crash" - So, every weekend that is, yes?

Replies: 28
Views: 539
Last Post By: stv21 ON: Sat Mar 06, 2010 2:42 pm
Topic By: stv21 ON: Sat Mar 06, 2010 2:42 pm
The second IRTA test in Jerez seems to be a total washout. Severe rainfall kept most of the riders hidden in their boxes and the forecast predicts even more rain for tomorrow and Monday. It looks like every single team is present in Jerez, upping the number of riders to almost 70, but they probably won't get much of their testing schedule done.
It's too bad really as we won't get any more interesting laptimes to compare, especially for the Moto2 class, and the teams will go into the first race still a lot of work to do. Bummer.

Replies: 83
Views: 732
Last Post By: stv21 ON: Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:06 am
Topic By: stv21 ON: Fri Mar 05, 2010 8:19 pm
Nothing we didn't know already.

Nice to know the boss is happy though. He should start a club with Jorge Martinez, they can share stories from the lives as happy team managers.