Alvaro Bautista receives RFME silver medal

Mapfre Aspar rider Alvaro Bautista accepted the silver medal at the annual RFME Gala de Campeones in Barcelona today. The medal was awarded to the 250cc rider for excellence in his sport and the runner-up finish in this season's championship. Other medalled riders included this year's third-placed MotoGP rider Dani Pedrosa.

Test Valencia - Quotes 250cc riders

Álvaro Bautista 1’37.12
“The track wasn’t 100% but after a break of a month it was good to get a feel for the bike again. There isn’t much new to test so it was a case of just getting some laps in. We tried a few new settings with the front suspension but it was very windy and the track didn’t have much grip. It was difficult but we’re happy with the results, even though we need to try it in better conditions. We tried Aprilia’s new electronics on the second day but it didn’t work too well on the first bike. We changed everything on the second bike late on and it seemed to work well but we ran out of time to work on it. Generally speaking it was a quiet test in which we haven’t made any major changes but just worked on a few small things.”

Mike Di Meglio 1’38.6
“It has been a very positive couple of days in which I have simply focused on adapting to the new bike. I slowly managed to drop my times consistently into the 1’38s and got a feeling for the way the Aprilia reacts. I did a lot of laps on used tyres to see how it behaves mid-corner. The 250 moves around a lot and this is a new sensation for me but it is normal and I have to get used to it. I’m happy with how these few days have gone and satisfied with the result, even though it is my first time on a 250cc. I am going to have to prepare myself really well this winter, physically and mentally, to be at my absolute maximum in January.”

Test Valencia - Quotes 125cc riders

Julián Simón - 1’40.5
“I’m really happy – firstly with the job done by the team and secondly with the advice Jorge has offered me. I love the positive way the team is taking on this new challenge and in this test we have worked step by step, testing a whole host of things. The weather hasn’t done us any favours because the first day it was really windy and the second day it was really cold. That prevented us from setting better lap times. Even so, I made progressive improvements and each thing we tried was productive. The initial idea is to work on getting the bike ready for the first race of next season. We have got a lot of work to do over the winter in order to arrive at Jerez in good shape, which we have started on over these two days here in Valencia.”

Bradley Smith – 1’41.1
“They have been two positive days and I have had fun trying a lot of different things. We have tried to find some different solutions for the Aprilia, whilst we still have plenty of time. We can go away and think about things now over the winter and come back with a clear plan in the preseason. We’ve played around with a lot more things than you can at a test during the season, mainly the chassis and position on the bike, and the suspension settings. I also think my performance on the bike is much better than last season in a lot of areas. This is a good step forward and we have a lot of information to process, which should help us improve further.”

Sergio Gadea – 1’42.0
“We’ve basically worked on my position on the bike. We didn’t made as many changes as we thought necessary, on the front and rear, so that I could feel more comfortable. We also tried a couple of things with the chassis. I still need to get the bike turning better and keep it in line when I open the gas but we’ve made progress with a lot of small details and I’m satisfied with that. I have put in a lot of effort over the two days to make gradual changes. I’m happy and can go into the winter break with a good taste in my mouth.”

Pics of the Day: Valencia Test, Day 2

Test Valencia, Day 2

The second day of Aprilia testing at the Valencian circuit again saw the Aspar team dominating the timesheets.
In the 250cc class only three riders went out on track today, incidentally all of them current or former 125cc world champions (Bautista 2006, Talmacsi 2007, Di Meglio 2008) and Team Aspar riders. Alvaro Bautista stayed at the top of the timesheets, despite being about a second slower than yesterday. Gabor Talmacsi and Mike Di Meglio managed to improve their laptimes.
In the 125cc class new Aspar rider Julian Simon finished the day at the top of the list, improving yesterday's laptime over a second. Bradley Smith and Sergio Gadea both improved their laptimes as well.

125cc
1.- Julián Simón ESP Aprilia 1.40.5 69 laps
2.- Andrea Iannone ITA Aprilia 1.41.0 36 laps
3.- Bradley Smith GBR Aprilia 1.41.1 67 laps
4.- Sergio Gadea ESP Aprilia 1.42.0 53 laps

250cc
1.- Álvaro Bautista ESP Aprilia 1.38.1 44 laps
2.- Gabor Talmacsi HUN Aprilia 1.38.1 46 laps
3.- Mike di Meglio FRA Aprilia 1.38.6 55 laps

Pics of the Day: Valencia Test, Day 1

Test Valencia, Day 1

The Valencia cirucit in Cheste today saw several 125cc and 250cc Aprilia riders test their machinery for next year including the complete new Team Aspar. This was the first opportunity for the new Aspar signings Bradley Smith, Julian Simon and Mike Di Meglio to work with their new teams and Hungarian Gabor Talmacsi tried the 250cc Aprilia for the second time.
Brit Bradley Smith clocked the fastest time of the 125cc riders while Mapfre Aspar rider Alvaro Bautista easily put in the fastest laptime in the 250cc class, almost a second faster than his new teammates Gabor Talmacsi and Mike Di Meglio.

125cc
1.- Bradley Smith GBR Aprilia 1.41.7 55 laps
2.- Julián Simón ESP Aprilia 1.41.7 69 laps
3.- Andrea Iannone ITA Aprilia 1.42.3 48 laps
4.- Sergio Gadea ESP Aprilia 1.43.5 47 laps

250cc
1.- Álvaro Bautista ESP Aprilia 1.37.1 53 laps
2.- Gabor Talmacsi HUN Aprilia 1.38.1 41 laps
3.- Mike di Meglio FRA Aprilia 1.38.9 55 laps
4.- Angel Rodríguez ESP Aprilia --- ---
4.- Cristian Trabalón ESP Aprilia --- ---
4.- Alberto Moncayo ESP Aprilia --- ---

The test also revealed the new livery for the Hungarian sponsored MOL Aprilia of Gabor Talmacsi and his new number 28, due to his original number 14 already being taken by Thai rider Ratthapark Wilairot.
Furthermore Mike Di Meglio rode in the official Mapfre Aspar livery, confirming that he'll be the teammate of Alvaro Bautista the coming season with Alex Debon seemingly out of negotiations with the team.

Alvaro Bautista Diecasts Campaign - UPDATE

(*Above: Who wouldn't buy this lot???? Our suggested "Collection"...)

Quick update on the Diecasts campaign.
I've found a couple more contact addresses that we can all write too, and I would suggest that you also send in the image above - or the PDF version of it which you can download from here...
We think it'd be good if a company just went and made either a couple of key bikes in 1:12 scale or perhaps a whole collection (as illustrated) in 1:24 scale.

Altaya have a suggestion page on their website: Click here...
And here is the page translated into English...
(It requires a 5-figure postcode - just put 11111)
You could also try sending an email to them at: info@altaya.es

Here's the contacts for IXO...
Trade inquiries: sales@ixomodels.com
Customer Service: cs@ixomodels.com

This is the email address for Minichamps...
info@minichamps.de

And here's the contacts for another Spanish company called Guisval...
info@guisval.es
sales@guisval.es

There's more about all this campaign here... if you want to find out all about it and get fully involved.
Cheers,
gb

Bancaja Aspar team supporting young talent in Cheste

Above: Alvaro Bautista and María Herrera on the grid of the MiniGP XL 80 class in Cheste

At the final MotoGP round of the season in Valencia one of the supporting races was the Cuna Campeones series which is somewhat similar to the Movistar Junior Cup a couple of years ago. With five classes - Minimotos, MiniGP, MiniGP XL, Pre GP and Pre GP Evo - the cup gives an opportunity for young talent to shine and take the first steps in competitive racing.
Sponsored by Bancaja, the cup invited the whole Bancaja Aspar Team in Valencia and Sergio Gadea, Gabor Talmacsi, Adrian Martin as well as Jorge Martinez gave the youngsters some advice, signed autographs and posed for pictures. The video below shows highlights of the races at the Cheste circuit and includes short interviews with the Aspar Team as well as with Belson Derbi rider Joan Olive.

Alvaro Bautista Diecasts Campaign - Level 2

We at BatiFans want to try and push the campaign for Alvaro Bautista diecast models further afield than Minichamps, and would appreciate your help in also filling up the Suggestion Boxes at Spanish company Altaya (who already produce some nice 1:24 MotoGP bikes) and Chinese manufactrer Ixo (who produced the 2005 Alvaro Honda in 1:24).
Obivously the 2006 and 2008 bikes are probably going to be the most important to suggest, but particularly with 1:24 scale why not push for a full "collection"...

Altaya have a suggestion page on their website: Click here...
And here is the page translated into English...
Please can you submit the suggestions to this site (pmaybe be courteous and write in Spanish if you can, using Google's translation page) - and on this occasion make sure you remind them that as a Spanish company they could use Alvaro's popularity in Spain to sell such a collection.
By the way - If you have problems submitting the form it is because it demands a postcode (Spanish I guess) - I just filled that field with 11111 and it worked.


As for IXO, they have a page also saying they welcome suggestions, so please don't be shy.
As ever let's campaign for all bikes from 2003 through to 2008 - including the red & yellow World Championship end of season 2006 livery. Here's the contacts for IXO...
Trade inquiries: sales@ixomodels.com
Customer Service: cs@ixomodels.com

Please write, and get other fans to write, and let's get some momentum behind this!
Thanks :)
gb

Alvaro Bautista 2009 Calendar Now Online

Okay - the 2009 BatiCal is now online for download.
As per last year, it's a special BatiFans.com design, completely chocca with great pics, and fully marked up with all MotoGP dates and the Batster's birthday.
All the info and pics you should need to go on your Mac/PC desktop or to print out onto some nice glossy stock for your walls or *real* desktop
I’ve done two versions; one high resolution top print quality, and the other screen quality (although it has to be said this will print out very well indeed anyway).
Just wanted to give you the option of a seriously quality version if you plan on outputting it onto some costly paper/stock.

Full information and downloads are here at the BatiFan.com Fan Forum...

Hope you enjoy it, and I hope you'll pass the links around so that other fans and friends can enjoy it too. As well as a nice piece of Bati fanart and a useful calendar it also helps pimp our website and forum so anything you can do to spread the word in that respect is *always* appreciated... :)