Bad news for Talmacsi

The Budapest Times report that Aspar rider and former 125cc world champion Gábor Talmácsi has lost all but one of his sponsors, forcing the team to restructure the budget for the current year. "We are mostly trying to save money on travel costs", Talmácsi’s manager Stefano Favaro told Inforádio last Thursday, adding that smaller companies were revoking their earlier promises one after another because of the global financial crisis. Favaro said that the only remaining sponsor for the motorcyclist is Hungarian oil corporation MOL, but Talmácsi’s team is in negotiations, so his circle of supporters could grow before the season starts in Qatar on 12 April.

We hope for the best for Talma and wish him successful negotiations with his sponsors, so we'll see him again at the start of the season.

Gabor Talmacsi in Valencia

Although the Aspar Team was not officially at the second two-day test in Valencia this week, Gabor Talmacsi was present nontheless to help out Rookie Johann Zarco who will start his first full 125cc season with the WTR San Marino Team on Aprilia.
Balatonring Aspar rider Talmacsi said that he was there to support Frenchman Zarco who's very quick and that whenever he needs advice with the set-up, Gabor helps him out and can use his good contacts with the Aprilia engineers.

Asked by journalists, Gabor also said that one has to maintain optimistic about the Hungarian GP this year. There have been rumours lately that the race in Hungary could be cancelled, because the track will not be ready in time. The former world champion admitted that there's a very tight schedule to build the Balatonring circuit, but at the same time noted that the F1 track in Valencia was built in only three months. Reminded by the interviewer that this circuit had already part of the infrastructure built beforehand, Talmacsi answered that this is right, but "my fans and I need this Hungarian GP!".
We hope for Gabor and the Hungarian fans as well as MotoGP fans worldwide that the new circuit can be finished in time and that we can see a new country added to the MotoGP calendar this year.

Team Aspar in Spanish Supermoto Championship

Team Aspar is also a well-known brand outside MotoGP and therefore there will be an Aspar School of Supermoto taking place this year. It is an opportunity for riders under 18 to get more experience and compete with other riders in a professional surrounding. They will have eight races total which are part of the race weekends of the Spanish Championship and get an Aprilia SX 125cc plus equipment and support. The first signed riders are Rubén Retuerta, Jordi Poveda and Francisco Cortijo.

More information: www.supermotos1.es

Successful surgery for Alvaro Bautista

Today Mapfre Aspar rider Alvaro Bautista left the hospital in Madrid and is now back at home to rest for a week. The surgery on his right collarbone went very well and Alvaro already has full mobility of the arm again, only with some pain caused by swelling of the scar. He has now a special titanium plate with ten nails in his body which stabilizes the multiple fractured parts of his right collarbone.
Alvaro won't be able to do anything this week except carefully moving his right arm from time to time to prevent the muscles becoming atrophic. But from next Monday on Alvaro will already start with physiotherapy and after two more check-ups at the hospital he will pick up normal training again in about ten days.

Alvaro Bautista: "I am very content, because everything went fantastic. I can already move the arm easily, it only hurts a little because the scar is still swolen and I feel that. Practically I now have to continue with my normal life, stretching the arm a little to recover complete mobility and to avoid that the musculature becomes atrophied. After the surgery I felt a little pain, but they gave me a few tranquilizers and I slept perfectly all night. Thanks to the excellent work of doctor Villamor I will be training again in about one week."

Alvaro Bautista in hospital after surgery

Following his crash at the last day of testing in Valencia which resulted in a fractured right collarbone, Alvaro Bautista had surgery at the USP hospital San José de Madrid today and will stay there overnight. If everything goes as planned, he'll be able to leave the hospital tomorrow morning and with check-ups and rehabilitation he should be able to get back to training within the next few weeks.
The surgery became necessary as the fracture seemed to be more complex than initially assumed and this way he will also have full mobility of the arm immediately.


Doctor Ángel Villamor: "During the surgery for which it was necessary to do a local anesthesia, the comminuted complex fracture has been fixed, stabilized and equipped with an anatomical special titanium plate. In the center of the fracture we inserted rich plasma to support the growth, produced with blood of the patient - with the goal to accelerate the process of bone healing and practically reducing it to half of the time it would require with the conventional procedure."

Valencia Test - Quotes 250cc

Alvaro Bautista 1.38.170 (40 laps)
"Despite the weather conditions I was enjoying this test a lot. We came from Jerez very motivated, because things went very well when we left there. The truth is that I absolutely did not expect to crash, because I was riding very confident, but with the track so cold everything is possible. It happened when it began to rain, we also just put a new back tire on and I think that it was still cold. It is a pity, because it has stopped our excellent work so far. In any case, it is necessary to hope that the consequences are not too bad and that I can recover soon, so that I arrive at Estoril at 100%."

Mike Di Meglio 1.38.342 (30 laps)
"This test has been very positive, because in the few laps at the beginning I've always bee as fast as I've been during the last test at Valencia. Considering the condition of the track this is a very good thing. Little by little I felt better on the bike and most important is that I get used to the proper way of riding a 250. I hope that at the next test in Portugal we have more luck, because in Valencia was very cold and it was far from easy to ride fast. I am a little disappointed about the crash of Alvaro right at the moment when it began to rain, I wish him a quick recovery. Personally when I saw raindrops I preferred to stop riding, because I am in the process of getting more confidence with the bike and a serious crash would only put us a step behind."

Valencia Test - Alvaro Bautista breaks collarbone

Bad weather conditions made it difficult again for the 125cc and 250cc riders in Valencia to test properly. Several riders decided to go out without a transponder.
Of the 250cc riders Alvaro Bautista was fastest for much of the day until Gabor Talmacsi went 0.081 seconds faster shortly before it started to rain again. In worsening conditions Bautista went fast and tried to top Talmacsi's laptime, but highsided in the second corner and unfortunately broke his right collarbone. We sincerly hope that Alvaro will be able to recover from this injury as fast as possible and will be fit again until the first race in Qatar on April 12th. Buena suerte, Alvaro!

Laptimes Valencia Test, Day 2:

250 ccm
1. Gabór Talmacsi (H), Aprilia, 1:38,089
2. Alvaro Bautista (E), Aprilia, 1:38,171
3. Mike di Meglio (F), Aprilia, 1:38,374
4. Alex Baldolini (I), Aprilia, 1:39,247
5. Héctor Faubel (E), Honda, 1:39,452
6. Ratthapark Wilairot (THA), 1:39,726
7. Raffaele De Rosa (I), Honda, 1:40,315

125 ccm
1. Julian Simon (E), Aprilia, 1:41, 839
2. Sergio Gadea (E), Aprilia, 1:41,968
3. Bradley Smith (GB), 1:42,258
4. Scott Redding (GB), 1:42,290
5. Marc Marquez (E), KTM, 1:42,409
6. Cameron Beaubier (USA), KTM, 1:43,580
7. Esteve Rabat (E), Aprilia 1:44,593
8. Johan Zarco (F), Aprilia, 1:45,844