Alvaro Bautista was unable to follow up his promising free practice form with anything more than an eighth place start in tomorrow's Dutch TT after qualifying this afternoon was interrupted for the Spaniard first by a rain shower and then by a crash. Even though the riders were able to return to the drying track once the shower had passed it certainly didn't help the Team San Carlo Honda Gresini rider, who at least has the race pace to suggest he can make up positions tomorrow. Michele Pirro continued to close the gap to the pair of Aprilias currently leading the CRT chase, the Italian setting a solid race pace to suggest he can cause them a problem in tomorrow's race.
Alvaro Bautista ( 8th 1’ 34” 722 ) "It was a shame about the crash because we did such a good job this morning and our pace was strong. This afternoon the rain came first, which set us back, and then when I went back out and tried to push I lost the front and crashed, which cost me a lot of grid positions. The good thing is we are fast and our rhythm is good so we just have to try and get a good start, make up positions as quickly as possible and not lose contact with the front guys."
Michele Pirro (14th 1’ 36” 647) "We lost half of the session to the rain this afternoon and that didn't help us but we have closed the gap a little to the two best CRT bikes and this is positive. Obviously we still have some things to do, especially to solve a bad vibration, but I'm sure the team can help resolve it tomorrow and put me in a position to be fighting to be the top CRT."
Fausto Gresini "It was a shame because we had been enjoying a good weekend up until this afternoon and we could have done without the crash. Unfortunately he dropped several positions and it doesn't do his true potential justice. Obviously the rain didn't help either but now we have to look to the warm-up tomorrow, make some final improvements and then hope to make a good start and recover positions in the race. Michele did well despite a small technical problem but I believe our engineers can give him the bike to put on a strong performance tomorrow."
San Carlo Honda Gresini Press Release
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