BAUTISTA LEADS DONINGTON
01 July 2006 - Aprilia

Having raced last week on the renovated Assen track, 125 motorcyclists will now race on one of the best tracks, at Donington Park in the classical, green region of Derbyshire, approximately 60 miles from Nottingham.

Alvaro Bautista, from the Master Aspar Team, was the fastest driver on Friday on the 4023 m British track. The Spanish driver is very focused for Sunday’s race, aiming to improve on his current classification. Currently, Bautista has 47 points over Kallio. Bautista’s pole position is 137”328, faster than he achieved in the free trials, almost a second faster than his track record and only a few thousandths of a second slower than Dovizioso’s record in 2004.

In the provisional first lap, Matteo Pasini, Bautista’s team mate, took third place; making him slightly slower than the leader of the classification (+0,193s). Pasini’s 1’37”421 was achieved in particular traffic conditions. 125 drivers must ride in a group to be able to benefit from the ski effect. Pasini was one of the most chased today and this will unnerve him.

Andrea Iannone, from Abruzzo, tried to get the best possible position and obtained a time of 1’38”284. Sergio Gadea of the Master Aspar Team beat the Italian driver by a mere 43 thousandths of a second , while Hector Fauble, also driving a motorbike of the Aspar Team, took eleventh position , 1.2 seconds beyond pole position.

Michele Pirro of EWTR Baluer USA was knocked off his motorbike 12 minutes before the end of the lap when taking the bend on the left hand side. The driver, from San Giovanni Rotondo, was taken to the medical center as a precautionary measure but had no lesions whatsoever. Tomorrow, in the second round of the official tests, Pirro will have to improve on his 1’39”617 time which put him in twenty-seventh place.

www.aprilia.com

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