Problems with front-end chatter in changed conditions leave Bautista in disappointing sixth place

Team San Carlo Honda Gresini riders Alvaro Bautista and Michele Pirro came out of the Brno race reflecting on a disappointing but not entirely fruitless exercise, the Spaniard picking up valuable points in sixth place but struggling for feeling with his bike and the Italian battling to the finish despite his own problems. Front end chatter proved to be Bautista’s biggest issue in very different conditions to the rest of the weekend whilst for Pirro it was an uncomfortable ride due to the burns on his leg sustained yesterday and an unsuitable set-up on his CRT machine.

Alvaro Bautista (6th) “I am not happy, because the change in conditions from yesterday to today created a lot of front-end chatter on our bike and I was close to crashing on several occasions. I also had a problem on the rear with the bike sliding around so much that it felt like I was running the hard tyre. I couldn’t push it like I wanted to and it wasn’t a good race for us because of this. Tomorrow we have a day of tests and I hope we can use it to resolve our problems.”

Fausto Gresini “Not a great race for us but not bad either. We have picked up a sixth place with Alvaro Bautista but in reality the only rival behind us was Rossi. Alvaro had a lot of problems trying to control the front, so the test tomorrow will be important to solve this and try to give him a bike he can ride on the limit. We need to take a step forward now and I am sure with the hard work of Alvaro and the team we can do it.”

Source: Gresini Racing Press Release