Bautista 1.1 seconds up in FP1

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DukeMedDucati

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I know it's only practice, but Alvaro Bautista is 1.1 seconds up on P2 (sam lowes on the Yamaha) in Free Practice 1. I know there will be many that scream for RPM penalties to be put on the Ducati, but Bautista is the only one going so well on the V4R. Everyone else is barely in the top 10, so I have to think it's the rider so far in this case. Glad to see Rea getting some real competition this year!
 
He’s killing it on the V4. I don’t think WSB will place a penalty on Ducati long as the others are close and the other Ducs are farther down.
 
in FP2, Bautista still up over a half-second, to (again) Alex Lowes on the Yamaha, Johnny in P3. One other Ducati (Laverty, not Chaz) P5 and .74sec behind. Chaz P10 and 1.4 seconds behind. Seems he's not gelling with the bike the way AB is.
 
Alvaro shows why he was a MotoGP rider for a while at least....... In general I think the MotoGP guys are better than the WSB guys. So far no WSB rider has gone to MotoGP and done much. OK, Bayless won the one GP race after he won the WSB title...but thats about it. Russel, Spies, Edwards and others WSB champs.....just never won consistently when they switched. Russel and Edward never even won a single GP race.
 
I think one of the reasons he's doing so well is that he's used to the Ducati V-4. That's what he raced in MotoGP, so I think his "learning curve" is a lot less steep than his peers. I also think he's a supremely-talented rider that could win in MotoGP on the right equipment. Remember when he rode the full-factory bike last year substituting for Lorenzo? I think he led a few laps and finally finished a close fourth. He's a talented rider for sure. Glad to see Rea getting a taste of his own medicine. Rea dominated in such a way in the past few seasons that it was almost boring to watch WSBK, because it was all likely a battle for second place.
 
Ducati has always been keen on transfer of tech from Motogp to WSB and to street bikes, the others not so much. Gotta wonder how much longer Aprilia and KTM keep pissing money away in MotoGP as they are never ever close to winning or even a podium. Wish KTM would make a V4 streetbike to replace the RC8R, which was a great streetbike.
 
Another maximum-points weekend for Alvaro. Some may still say it's the bike, but Rea was able to beat Chaz twice. I think AB is just comfortable with the Ducati. Glad to see him doing so well!
 
The scariest part of the AB/Ducati deal for the competition, Bautista is figuring it out as he goes along! He will only get stronger as the season progresses.
 
centeroff said:
The scariest part of the AB/Ducati deal for the competition, Bautista is figuring it out as he goes along! He will only get stronger as the season progresses.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Scary to think he's doing this well on a bike that they basically had zero data on. As they progress through the season, they'll learn more about how to get the bike to turn, extend tire life, etc. I'd LOVE to see AB run the tables and win every damned race this season, just to get to hear Rea piss and moan about it. And again, I still think it's more AB than just the bike. He's riding the hell out of that V4R.
 

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