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product. The larger profile<br />
tyres are much more similar<br />
to what he left behind MotoGP<br />
with Michelin’s tyres, except<br />
the front tyre is actually a lot<br />
stronger. He can ride a Superbike<br />
like a MotoGP bike and<br />
now he’ll be forcing the other<br />
riders, and teams, to develop<br />
their packages towards that<br />
style.<br />
It’s the polar opposite of what<br />
we’ve seen as successful in<br />
recent years. Have a look<br />
at Rea or Chaz Davies: they<br />
brake deep and hard and try<br />
and spend as little time on the<br />
edge of the tyre as possible.<br />
<strong>No</strong>w look at Bautista’s style.<br />
He’s flat out every corner of<br />
every lap but he’s also looking<br />
after his tyres.<br />
He’s doing that with his style<br />
and his electronics. The Ducati<br />
is great package and he’s<br />
riding it like a 250cc Grand<br />
Prix machine. He left MotoGP<br />
feeling that it was a missed<br />
opportunity. He was riding<br />
better than ever and went to<br />
WorldSBK with a chip on his<br />
shoulder. He wants to prove<br />
the doubters wrong. Bautista’s<br />
issue in MotoGP wasn’t that<br />
he wasn’t talented enough or<br />
fast enough it was that when<br />
the music stopped in last<br />
year’s game of musical chairs<br />
he was left standing.<br />
Hell hath no fury like a<br />
scorned rider. “Bautista is riding<br />
a race like he’s in MotoGP,<br />
wide open from the first lap,<br />
and not looking behind until<br />
you cross the chequered flag,”<br />
Smith observes. “That’s what<br />
he is doing and why we see<br />
such good results. I don’t<br />
think we’ve seen the best from<br />
Rea yet - other than a handful<br />
of races - but that’s because<br />
he’s kind of not sure what to<br />
do moment. Does he just take<br />
loads of second places as<br />
the bike can’t compete with<br />
Bautista at the moment? He<br />
is in a no man’s land and the<br />
mentality is so different as a<br />
result. In the last three laps of<br />
every race we’ve seen the real<br />
Johnny come out, because he<br />
goes into second and pulls the<br />
gap and ends up in second.”<br />
“He’s gone toe to toe with<br />
Bautista a few times for eight<br />
or nine laps. The sprint race<br />
in Australia or race one in<br />
Thailand are the best examples.<br />
We have seen him do it,<br />
but when Bautista is a second<br />
clear at the end of Lap 1 everyone<br />
is in a fight for second<br />
straight away. It changes your<br />
approach to not being about<br />
getting the best out of what’s<br />
underneath you, it’s about getting<br />
those 20 points.”<br />
ALVARO BAUTISTA
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