OFFICIAL PROGRAMME
I did not want to exit from
TM
MotoGP . But when I discover this championship I am so happy . it is emotional , but that is a different type of crying !” Back to the track , Bautista is now almost WorldSBK establishment . His induction into WorldSBK was helped by that immediate and astonishing impact in 2019 , but right now , how does Bautista feel about his new racing world inside WorldSBK ? “ Before I came here , I did not want to come here ,” said Bautista honestly . “ I mean , I did not want to exit from MotoGP™ . But when I discover this championship I am so happy . Personally , it gave me more self-generated power . I saw that with a good bike and good team I can be strong . I knew about my potential but with good results you have more confidence in yourself . It gave me a lot of motivation and trust in myself . When I came to WorldSBK I had never ridden a Superbike , so I expected … nothing . I just went there and tried to enjoy it . My target was to keep racing , which I could not do in MotoGP™ . The place most similar to MotoGP™ is Superbike , not going to Moto2 . I wanted a big bike .” At the beginning it was the rookie year to end all years , win after win , and a previously dominant World Champion combination of Jonathan Rea and Kawasaki eating dirt even at many of Rea ’ s favourite circuits . It was unprecedented . “ At the beginning of the year I was like up here ! I didn ’ t expect to start like I did . No way ! Not even in my best dreams !” But then it all went wrong . He finished second , Rea eventually won by some distance . With two years passed since then , does Bautista now know in his heart-of-hearts what happened to lose such an astonishing early advantage ? Any new insights ? “ Sometimes I did not want to win … I wanted to ‘ extra ’ win ,” said Bautista , ruefully it seems . “ Sometimes that is not good . Sometimes you have to win , or take second . But maybe I was extra , extra , extra motivated , and I believed I could win all the races . Maybe it is not easy to manage that situation . Also there was some bad luck because sometimes another rider hit me . Even if we won with a lot of margin we worked with the bike to improve and sometimes we made wrong decisions with the set-up then it is difficult to find the way again . I think it was a combination - and also some tracks that I had never been to , and some conditions that I had never found before with the tyres . At the end , a championship is very long and you have to be strong in all kinds of conditions and all moments .” Famously , infamously , take your pick , Alvaro and Ducati parted ways and Bautista scored a full factory HRC Honda ride for the two years after . Perfect . Not so far , despite great efforts from all . Covid-19 was a real factor last year , for a million reasons , but this year it is not looking any better for the Honda guys , and their de facto number one rider Bautista . When will they start winning ? “ I think we need at least one second to be fighting for the front positions ,” said Bautista . At this level , that is like eons Racing light years . “ One second , to be like this … ( said Alvaro putting his fingers up to his chin , pushing upwards to demonstrate that maximum effort was needed ). 1.2 seconds to be comfortable . It is a lot to find especially in this championship where you cannot change nothing with the bike - frame , engine . It is difficult . Now all the steps we are doing are very small but the others are making at the same level as us . The gap is not less . Especially now , the front riders are the same strength but there are more riders closer together . More riders than two years ago , when we were two or three .” Just to add to the strangeness of a genuine championship contender ’ s lack of results on 2021 is the fact that his Team Manager is Leon Camier . Yes , someone who is all new to the management game , and until about five minutes ago he was an active WorldSBK rider himself . “ Yes , it is strange ,” laughed Alvaro , “ Last year I was competing with him , although he did not race a lot because of his injury , but it was strange to see him in my pitbox . But now everything is going really well . He has a lot of
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