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Alvaro Bautista

Alvaro Bautista di atas motosikal Ducati Panigale V4 R – Sumber imej: Eurosport
  • Alvaro Bautista dan jentera Ducati Panigale V4 R baharu telah mendominasi lapangan WorldSBK 2019 dalam perlumbaan pembukaan di Phillip Island, Australia.
  • Dia berjaya menamatkan perlumbaan dengan perbezaan masa sebanyak 14.9 saat di hadapan Jonathan Rea.
  • Terdapat empat pengeluar berbeza mengisi lima tempat teratas perlumbaan ini.

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  • Alvaro Bautista and the new Ducati Panigale V4 R stomped the WorldSBK 2019 field in the opening race at Phillip Island, Australia.

  • He finished a whopping 14.9 ahead of the Jonathan Rea.

  • There were four different manufacturers in the Top Five at the finish line.

It was a fairy tale start for Alvaro Bautista and the Ducati Panigale V4 R as they won Race 1 of the opening round of Pirelli WorldSBK 2019 in Phillip Island, Australia.

Bautista and the Ducat blasted into the lead in Turn 3 on the opening lap. His race laps were so hot that he had opened up an 8-second lead by mid-race. He would eventually cross the finish line 14.9 seconds ahead of the second-placed rider.

He was the first rookie rider to win a WorldSBK race on his debut since Max Biaggi in 2007.

With Bautista clearing off into the horizon, he left his rivals to fight it out among themselves. However, unlike in previous years when four-time world champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) dominated his rivals, he had to fight tooth and nail with other riders this time around. His new teammate Leon Haslam provided the strongest challenge, with Alex Lowes in tow (PATA Yamaha WorldSBK Team).

Haslam managed to pass Rea only to crash later. The former remounted and finished 15th.

Further down the field, Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) battled hard against Toprak Razgatlioglu on his Turkish Puccetti Racing Kawasaki. Sykes’ bike visibly struggling to keep up with the Toprak’s down the straights.

Marco Melandri (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) was another rider who put in an amazing ride. He fought his way up from midfield, first passing Michael van Der Mark for sixth place, before chasing down Sykes, Razgatlioglu, and Lowes who was in third. Melandri claimed the final podium spot, relegating Lowes to 4th.

van Der Mark moved up to 5that the finish, while Razgatlioglu kept Sykes behind for 6th.

The biggest story day of course, is about the dream debut of Bautista and the Panigale V4 R. his teammate Chaz Davies was still struggling to learn the new bike and finished in 10th.

The results mean there were four different manufacturers in the Top Five, including one privateer team (Melandri’s GRT Yamaha).

Race 2 and the new sprint race continue tomorrow (Sunday).

Alvaro Bautista di atas jentera Ducati Panigale V4 R sewaktu ujian pra musim WorldSBK 2019 Phillip Island – Sumber imej: ultimatemotorcycling.com
  • Alvaro Bautista dan Ducati telah meneruskan dominasi mereka pada hari kedua bagi ujian pra musim WorldSBK 2019 yang terakhir.
  • Dia telah berjaya mencatatkan masa yang lebih pantas pada hari terakhir ujian, meletakkannya di hadapan para penunggang yang lain.
  • Sekali lagi, lima tempat teratas telah diduduki oleh empat buah pengilang yang berbeza.

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  • Alvaro Bautista and Ducati once again dominated Day Two of the final WorldSBK 2019 pre-season testing.

  • He went faster on the final day, putting his best time way ahead of everyone else.

  • There were four different manufacturers in the Top Five.

Alvaro Bautista and Ducati again dominated the second day of the final WorldSBK 2019 pre-season test.

The Baustista-Ducati Panigale V4 R package had yielded the best time of 1m 30.743s on Day One, being the only rider to dip under the 1m 31s mark. The next fastest rider was Tom Sykes on the new BMW S 1000 RR, nearly 0.6 second behind with a time of 1m 31.300s.

But if the lap time from Day One was unassailable, Bautista put it even further out of reach on Day Two with a blistering best time of 1m 30.303s.

More importantly, that fastest lap wasn’t just one flying lap, proceeded by mediocre lap times. Bautista put in a total of 33 laps in the second session. Of that total, he ran 17 laps in the 1m 30s, 8 laps in the low 1m 31s bracket, while the rest were out laps (leaving the pit), slow down laps (to enter the pits) and in the pits. That is an amazing progression by any count. Bautista also recorded the highest top speed among the field with 314.9 km/h.

This domination is great news for Ducati, who were the King of Superbikes in the 90’s and early 2000’s.

The Top Five of the field actually improved on their fastest laps on Day Two, all dipping under the 1m 31s mark. Tom Sykes was second fastest on the BMW with a time of 1m 30.539s; new Kawasaki signing Leon Haslam finished third fastest with 1m 30.668s; four-time and 2018 champion Jonathan Rea in fourth on the Kawasaki with 1m 30.722s; and privateer Yamaha rider Marco Melandri recorded the fifth fastest time of 1m 1m 30.760s ahead of factory Yamaha rider Michael van Der Mark.

That’s four different manufacturers in the top five. Looks like we have an awesome WorldSBK 2019 season brewing.

Sumber imej: WorldSBK.com
  • Bekas penunggang MotoGP, Alvaro Bautista tampil terpantas di atas motosikal Ducati Panigale V4 R pada hari pertama ujian pra musim terakhir WorldSBK 2019.
  • Jentera Ducati tunggangan Bautista adalah salah satu daripada empat pengeluar yang berbeza dalam kedudukan Lima Teratas.
  • Sesi ujian akan diteruskan esok.

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  • Former MotoGP rider Alvaro Bautista was quickest on the Ducati Panigale V4 R on Day One of the final WorldSBK 2019 pre-season test.

  • Bautista’s Ducati was one of four different manufacturers in the Top 5.

  • Testing continues tomorrow.

New factory Ducati signing Alvaro Bautista dominated the first day of the final pre-season testing at the Phillip Island Circuit, ahead of the opening round of WorldSBK 2019.

Riding the new Ducati Panigale V4 R, Bautista was the only rider to dip below the 1m 31s mark with 1m 30.743s. Bautista was only fifth fastest at Jerez test in November. The Spanish rider and Gigi Dall’Igna have both said previously that it’s still early days for the Panigale V4 R but this result is surely an encouraging sign in their quest to recapture the WSBK crown that Ducati once held.

That wasn’t the only big news from Day One. There were four different manufacturers in the Top Five. Alex Lowes took the new Yamaha YZF-R1 to second fastest with a time of 1m 31.146s.

Four-time WorldSBK champion Jonathan Rea captured third on the new Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR, just a whisker behind Lowes with a time of 1m 31.189s. He blew everyone away during the test at Jerez by being one second faster than the next nearest rival.

Rea’s ex-teammate and former world champion Tom Sykes rode the new BMW S 1000 RR to fourth fastest in 1m 31.300s.

Fifth fastest was Rea’s new teammate Leon Haslam who recorded his fastest time of 1m 31.999s.

Many fans and pundits of the series are hoping for a closer fight this year, after Rea’s domination in the past two seasons. They shall get their wish if it continues like today, and Rea will have his hands full in stemming the tide from three other manufacturers.

Testing continues tomorrow.

  • Alvaro Bautista berjaya mendapat tempat ke-empat sewaktu pusingan GP Australia pada hujung minggu yang lalu.
  • Keputusan perlumbaan ini menunjukkan adanya jurang yang besar di antara jentera perlumbaan pasukan pengilang dan pasukan satelit.
  • Dorna perlu menghentikan sistem ‘bertingkat’ bagi membolehkan ke semua pelumba berbakat bersaing secara adil.

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  • Alvaro Bautista rode to a fourth-placed finished at last weekend’s Australian GP.

  • The result showed the large gap between factory and satellite bikes.

  • Dorna ought to stop the “tiered” system to avoid talented riders languishing down the order.

Alvaro Bautista probably had no idea of where he’d finish in Australia when he sat in for the injured Jorge Lorenzo.

The Desmosedici GP18 threw Jorge Lorenzo off on the last three occasions. The last one in Australia injured his left arm. But instead of letting only Andrea Dovizioso ride in the race, the Ducati factory team drafted Bautista over from the Ducati satellite Angel Nieto Team.

It wasn’t easy for the affable Spaniard at first, crashing three times over the weekend. However, he found his rhythm in the race and challenged both Andrea Ianone and teammate Andrea Dovizioso for the podium positions.

He only acquiesced the position when, “I had a problem with the gearbox. It was different to what I was using. I didn’t engage the gear and I lost the distance with both Andreas.”

This is where it starts to get interesting.

Speaking about his switch to the factory Ducati World Superbike squad next year, “I’m so confident for next season. I like to race but I also like to win. If you don’t have a competitive bike you can’t win.”

On the differences between a factory and satellite bike, “For sure the bike is different. For me I’m very impressed of the engine, the character of the engine, the power of the engine. It’s incredible how different this bike is from the bike of last year that I’m using. The difference is quite big.”

It was the ex-125cc World Champion’s best result in MotoGP since April.

Bautista’s interview confirmed that there are tiers in MotoGP.

Compared to factory machines such as those ridden by Dovizioso, Lorenzo, Marquez, Pedrosa, Rossi and Vinalez, the bikes run by satellite teams are “customer” bikes. Race teams – the “customers” – rent the bikes from manufacturers. These bikes are usually those with the previous year’s specs. Even then, they are not 100% identical to the factory bikes.

As such, the title had always come down the fight among the factory boys while other riders play the role of grid fillers.

This isn’t a good thing as so many great talents find themselves languishing on uncompetitive bikes down the field. While this happening, attention and more importantly, screen time is given to the top runners. How many times have we seen Hafizh Syahrin in action this season? Unless he crashed, notwithstanding.

MotoGP: Hafizh Syahrin Scores Points in Thailand

The disparity between full-factory and satellite teams used to be very small in the 70’s and 80’s but it has grown larger ever since. It has closed somewhat in the last few seasons since the introduction of the spec-ECU and Michelin tyres in 2016. We witnessed Johann Zarco and Danilo Petrucci challenging for the lead on many occasions last year, but it was an all-out fight among the factory Honda, Ducati, Yamaha (and Suzuki to a lesser extent) again this season.

This is the exact reason why Herve Poncharal decided to move his Tech 3 camp to KTM next year. Being supplied sub-par bikes for past seasons had left him wishing for better results. But there’s no way out since Yamaha will not supply him the latest YZR-M1.

Tech 3 Parting with Yamaha in 2019

So, before some of you start spouting wild accusations like, “Mat Sallehs will only favour Mat Sallehs and push Hafizh Syahrin down because he’s Malay,” (oh yes, someone did post that in Facebook) remember Bautista’s result at Philip Island.

  • Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) akhirnya telah menamatkan kemarau terpanjang Yamaha dengan satu kemenangan penuh bergaya di Phillip Island.
  • Penunggang kelahiran Sepanyol itu mengemudi jentera Yamaha M1 yang telah ditala dengan sempurna itu bagi menangkis serangan penunggang seperti Andrea Iannone (Suzuki Ecstar) dan juga Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team).
  • Alvaro mengejutkan semua apabila dia menamatkan perlumbaan di P4 sebagai pengganti Jorge Lorenzo yang tercedera.

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  • Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) finally ended Yamaha’s longest losing streak with a spectacular victory at Phillip Island.

  • The Spaniard raced a perfectly-tuned Yamaha M1 to fend off the likes of Andrea Iannone (Suzuki Ecstar) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team).

  • Alvaro Bautista surprised everyone when he finished in P4 as the replacement for the injured Jorge Lorenzo.

https://www.facebook.com/MotoGP/photos/a.10150706659035769/10157281043175769/?type=3&eid=ARC8SSyZqezih7s9JAnkaWbbl2ZWENkOsj-m3BAoSPr3w6smepvoehA0hDvGrlPqoiM5rbtGfREaBxz2&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARAPsmvCzceDjHgdRYJHRli80Ttk_EfQsiGtWG29wzk484Pr9CHsnHWEk2gwBFkmIZqXWyXra-reoBXLABobT_7OYd5wpOWsPCD5n6QfESILL7K6vK6dLTpftWLVFA1WKRcOoYsaqlPwmOOHVd5ciu1kuhurTxEkW3xo1nbMPT_Pc2zKoculd4B4aR4VucoIAcfkjJuqphSjNjMmVSDPiNorWxSc0Q&__tn__=EHH-R

If you’ve been spending the past few hours in front of the TV watching the Australian MotoGP round at Phillip Island, you would agree when we saw that all three races from Moto3 all the way up to MotoGP were jam-packed with action and drama. The MotoGP race was no exception as Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) finally secured a win for the Japanese factory. (more…)

  • Pusingan MotoGP yang seterusnya di Phillip Island akan menyaksikan Alvaro Bautista menggantikan tempat Jorge Lorenzo yang telah tercedera.
  • Dengan Lorenzo kini sedang dalam proses pemulihan, Bautista telah dipanggil bagi mengemudi jentera Ducati Desmosedici GP18 di Australia pada hujung minggu ini.
  • Ini akan menjadi perlumbaan terakhir Bautista dalam MotoGP sebelum menyertai pasukan pengilang Ducati dalam siri perlumbaan WorldSBK pada tahun 2019.

(more…)

  • The next MotoGP round at Phillip Island will see Alvaro Bautista replacing the injured Jorge Lorenzo.

  • With Lorenzo out for recovery, Bautista was called in to ride the Ducati Desmosedici GP18 in Australia this weekend.

  • This will be Bautista’s final races in MotoGP before joining the Ducati factory squad in WorldSBK come 2019.

The 2018 MotoGP season just began its three flyaway races where Marc Marquez of Repsol Honda claimed his seventh world championship title in Motegi, Japan last weekend. As the paddock scrambled to get things ready for Australian round happening this weekend at Phillip Island, Ducati announced that Alvaro Bautista will be stepping in for the injured Jorge Lorenzo in the next race. (more…)

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