Alvaro Bautista takes points finish at Brno, a “hard but fun” race
There was another notch in the Aprilia path of progress today with both Alvaro Bautista (13th) and teammate Stefan Bradl (14th) finishing the Brno race in the points.
This is a first for this début season. The Aprilia Racing Team Gresini riders rode an impeccable race after a good start which was undermined by the battle in the first turns.
Alvaro Bautista got off the line well when the lights went out, immediately moving up a few positions. Unfortunately, the usual battles in the first turns penalised him and he was forced to slow down a few times to keep from running off the track.
In twenty-second place at the end of the first lap, Alvaro stayed focused and found his pace, recovering ground with each lap and putting times on the sheets that would have kept him just behind the top-10.
His thirteenth place finish therefore leaves a few regrets for the Spanish rider who is comforted by the improvement that his technical package demonstrated over this weekend.
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“This was a hard but fun race. I had a good start, but on the first lap I lost the advantage I had gained. So I set my pace. At the beginning I was struggling a bit to stop the bike but lap after lap the situation improved. I had a lot of riders in front of me and that complicated matters. I enjoyed overtaking but the fact that I had the pace to make a play for eleventh place leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Our work keeps going. Even during the warmup a small change helped me to find more feeling with the bike over race distance. I would like to thank my team for all of their help on such a demanding weekend.”