All posts tagged rizla suzuki
Is Suzuki building a 2012 MotoGP bike?
Ducati and Honda have already started testing their 2012 1000cc bikes with their respective MotoGP riders. Yamaha is expected to have Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies getting their first taste immediately after the Italian Grand Prix as confirmed by Yamaha’s Kouichi Tsuji, but what about the other MSMA member, Suzuki? Does anyone know what their intentions are?
Valentino Rossi’s crew chief Jeremy Burgess recently stated, “It’s heavily rumored that Suzuki has not begun work on a liter MotoGP bike and will exit MotoGP as a factory team at the end of the 2011 season.”
While MCN.com reports that Paul Denning is still in talks with the Hamamatsu factory about the 2012 project, “I would say that the meetings were positive with no conclusions as yet. Suzuki’s internal process for the project is up for approval by the end of June, but the meeting gave a good platform to discuss options and ideas of how we move forward. I can’t speak directly on behalf of Suzuki Japan in terms of a final decision but I would say there is an optimistic atmosphere and a positive feeling that Suzuki want to remain in the championship.”
Alvaro Bautista fitness training ahead of Estoril GP
Alvaro Bautista is targeting this weekend’s Estoril GP as his return date after breaking his left femur 42 days ago during free practice in the season opener in Qatar.
The Rizla Suzuki rider will have to pass the usual medical exam at the Portuguese track before before being allowed back on his GSV-R, but judging by these photos taken of Bautista training on a supermotard bike yesterday, the exam will be a simple formality, even if Suzuki will have on hand their test rider Nobuatsu Aoki on stand-by, just in case.
Bautista who has been doing intensive physiotherapy to recover in time for this race said, “I have been working very hard to be back in time for Estoril and I believe I will be able to take part in the race. I know it will be difficult, but I think the sooner I can get on the bike the more it will aid my total recovery and help my way to full fitness. I have travelled over 4,500km with many journeys to the hyperbaric chamber in Madrid to assist with my healing - I have been there so many times I could close my eyes and go without problems!
“I have now finished the rehabilitation phase and started on the physical preparation; this involves a lot of swimming, cycling and other fitness programmes to build up the strength so I can ride again. It is going to be really tough, but I am totally focused on being on the GSV-R in Portugal, it’s all I can think about at the moment and that is my first goal. After that we’ll see what happens and take everything one step at a time.”
Source | rizlasuzuki
Photos via | 19Bautista@twitpic.com
Alvaro Bautista looking to Estoril for return
A little less than month after breaking his left femur during practice at Qatar, Alvaro Bautista underwent a new medical check-up at the Hospital USP San José de Madrid to check out his recovery progress.
The Rizla Suzuki rider is aiming for a return at the Estoril GP later this month, and his recent X-rays reveal that his bone is forming well and Bautista is currently undergoing flexibility and mobility exercises and is using a hyberbaric chamber to speed up bone growth and healing.
Bautista has less than two weeks to physically prepare before the third round of the season, but if he should still not be fit enough to ride, Paul Denning will have to come up with some other replacement rider as John Hopkins who sat in for the Spaniard at Jerez, is due to debut in the BSB championship the very same weekend.
Video: John Hopkins and Rizla Suzuki in Qatar
This is the first video that Rizla Suzuki has released with John Hopkins riding demostration laps on the GSV-R at the Losail circuit, Qatar for promo purposes.
The Anglo-American rider substituted for Alvaro Bautista at the Jerez GP and took 10th in the race, and here he discusses his hopes for the future, which includes returning to MotoGP.
Hopkins was at Croft on Friday getting in some lap time and learning the English circuit with his Samsung Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000, ahead of his debut in the British Superbike Championship later this month.
John Hopkins ready to race at Jerez, rumors of his quiting BSB denied
As we already know John Hopkins will be making his MotoGP return this weekend to replace injured Alvaro Bautista in Rizla Suzuki. His return, however briefly it will be, sparked a pretty crazy rumor that came from the Donington WSBK round.
Apparently their was some ridiculous talk was that Hopkins had actually quit his BSB ride even before turning one serious wheel in the championship that starts at the end of April, in favour of being Bautista’s temporary replacement in MotoGP. Obviously team manager Jack Valentine denied the whole thing, and let’s face it who would be dumb enough to give up a full season of racing in British Superbikes for just one or two replacement rides?
Back to Rizla Suzuki and MotoGP, Bautista will be present at the Jerez round as a spectator and is already on his feet and taking his first steps is targeting the Estoril GP as his return date after breaking his femur in Qatar. Hopkins is in pre-season testing with his Samsung Crescent Racing team had this to say about the upcoming return to MotoGP:
“I was shocked by what happened to Álvaro, especially after such good winter testing, and I really wish him a speedy and full recovery - I wanted the opportunity to get back on a MotoGP bike, but not under these circumstances. I’m under no illusions that this will be tough weekend for me, as I’ve not been on a GP machine for a couple of years or ridden the new control tyres – except for the filming I did in Qatar a couple of weeks ago – so I realise this will be a step up from what I have been riding recently. The bikes have moved on in the last three years, but when I rode the GSV-R at Losail it seemed so familiar and I immediately had a good feeling, but that was at filming pace, so it’s going to be a lot different at race pace! I know the Jerez track well, so it’s not like I need to learn a new circuit and I also know the team well so that that will help a lot. I will certainly be trying as hard as I can to get a good result and make sure that I don’t disappoint anybody – myself included. I want to say a big thank-you to Suzuki and Rizla for giving me this opportunity and I intend to pay back their faith with a good performance on my return to MotoGP.”
Source | rizlasuzuki and bikesportnews.com
Alvaro Bautista may have to undergo more surgery
Alvaro Bautista may have to undergo further surgery when he arrives in Madrid this evening. The Rizla Suzuki rider crashed out on a cold tire during Friday’s free practice at the Losail circuit and broke his femur.
After undergoing a first surgery at the Hamad Medical Corporation Hospital in Doha to re-align and pin his bone, he was to have another, briefer surgery on Monday to remove the usual surgical drain that is part of these procedures, but apparently this wasn’t done because of of the levels of inflammation, an acute compartment syndrome accompanied by low hemoglobin.
Bautista’s physician, Dr. Villamor will be waiting for him when he arrives in Spain and then decide how to proceed and try to solve these underlying problems, with another possibile surgery, before Bautista can even think of beginning rehabilitation. This could postpone his return to return to racing, but as MotoGP riders are ’superhuman’ regarding recovery periods we expect he’ll be back sooner than later.
Source | motociclismo.es
John Hopkins confirmed as Bautista's replacement for Jerez GP
John Hopkins will be making his return to MotoGP much sooner than he expected, because Rizla Suzuki has officially confirmed that their former rider will take Alvaro Bautista’s place in the second round of the season at Jerez.
Bautista broke his left femur during Friday night practice, and under pressure from Dorna who isn’t exactly pleased with Suzuki for cutting back on their involvement in the series and with the grid down to just seventeen riders, Suzuki had to confirm a replacement rider as soon as possible to avoid even more wrath from Carmelo Ezpeleta.
Rizla Suzuki tried to approch several former MotoGP riders who are currently racing in Moto2, like Anthony West and Alex de Angelis (who filled in for injured Hiroshi Aoyama last season) but were turned down and reserve rider John Hopkins couldn’t reach Qatar in time to take part in tonight’s qualifying session, nor could Suzuki’s test rider Nobuatsu Aoki who is stuck in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami disaster.
Continue reading: John Hopkins confirmed as Bautista's replacement for Jerez GP
UPDATE: Alvaro Bautista undergoes surgery
After a night of decision making, Alvaro Bautista decided to undergo surgery this morning at the Hamad Medical Corporation Hospital in Doha, Losail to re-align and pin his fractured femur.
Bautista crashed during yesterday’s final practice session fracturing his thigh bone. The Rizla Suzuki rider will be returning to Madrid as soon as his condition is stable enough to allow him to travel and will be immediately visiting renowned surgeon Dr. Angel Villamor to set about the first steps of his recuperation, however there is no word on how long his recuperation will last, but we expect he’ll be skipping at least the next race at Jerez that is scheduled for April 3rd, where we could see John Hopkins show up as his replacement.
Alvaro Bautista breaks femur in Qatar FP3 practice
We won’t be following Alvaro Bautista in this weekend’s Qatar GP. The sole Suzuki rider had a massive highside during the third free practice session at turn 15 and was stretchered out, now the unfortunate news coming for Losail is that Bautista has fractured his left femur and obviously has been ruled out of the race.
The Spaniard was transferred to the Hamad Medical Corporation in Doha after being visited by the Clinica Mobile where he is undergoing further tests, but it seems that his femur will have to be pinned, but a decision whether it will be done in Qatar or Spain is still being evaluated.
The grid will now see only 16 riders, but Rizla Suzuki had a back-up plan with John Hopkins as a reserve rider (he rode the GSV-R for a promo movie last Saturday in Qatar), just for these types of incidents, so we could see the Anglo American on track, but Rizla Suzuki will have only a few hours to decide whether Hopkins, who is riding for Crescent Suzuki in BSB this season, will be up to par for qualifying.
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Rizla Suzuki reveals 2011 livery
Rizla Suzuki has revealed the new livery on their GSV-R by Troy Lee Designs with the usual distinctive blue and yellow Rizla graphics with a little black to give it a more aggressive look.
Having pared down to one bike this season (or Dorna/Ezpeleta would have sued their asses off) Suzuki has high hopes in having a big breakthrough in 2011 and are concentrating all their efforts solely on Alvaro Bautista.
According to the press release the Japanese manufacturer has worked on improving the “chassis performance with significant developments to the stiffness balance of frame and swing-arm and have optimised the weight balance geometries from last season’s machine.”
“These updates to the chassis have been paired with the most advanced ECU software ever used on a Suzuki Grand Prix machine” (which former Suzuki rider Loris Capirossi used to complain a lot about) “to give Bautista more precise traction and wheelie control without losing direct machine control or power, adding to the versatility of the GSV-R in all conditions.
Apparently this new ECU and improvements are working and have allowed Bautista to be in the top ten in all the pre-season testing sessions.
John Hopkins to test in Qatar MotoGP test
It looks like Paul Denning team manager of Rizla Suzuki, actually wasn’t teasing when we reported the rumor that John Hopkins could get a wildcard ride in MotoGP this 2011.
According to British website MCN.com, Hopper will actually be testing the GSV-R during the pre-season Qatar test, that takes place next month and his role will be to replace Alvaro Bautista, if something should happen to the Spanish rider.
“We’re obliged to be at the races and we need to have a back-up plan if Alvaro is unfit. In terms of ability, experience and availability, John would definitely be the best guy,” said Denning.
This seems a pretty smart idea by Suzuki, because we wouldn’t want to see the scrambling and pretty inadequate replacements (test riders Wataru Yoshikawa and Kousuke Akiyoshi) that the teams found to substitute injured Valentino Rossi and Hiroshi Aoyama.
Impressive start for Alvaro Bautista at Sepang
Alvaro Bautista’s personal propositions to have a much better season seem to be are already taking shape, as the sole Rizla Suzuki rider took the sixth spot in today’s first day of testing at Sepang.
With 65 laps and a best time of 2’02.422, the Spaniard got the revised GSV-R (engine, chassis) off to a good start. as they usually do in the Malaysian heat. It will be interesting to see if Suzuki has finally sorted out all the problems that continue to plague the bike when ambient and track temperatures are much lower.
Álvaro Bautista on the 1st day of testing:
“Well, it’s been a long time since Valencia and on my first laps I thought Suzuki made a mistake and fitted a 1000cc engine in the bike, it feels so fast after a long break! But, after some easy laps, I began to get my rhythm and to ride comfortably. We did some interesting testing, but to be honest the main thing today was just for me to get back to a normal level, and in the end the bike felt nice and we went quite quick, so I’m happy. I hope the weather stays dry, we have a big list of stuff to test and I know the guys will be working late tonight to prepare everything for tomorrow – thanks to them and I am looking forward to continuing our work.”
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