Alvaro Bautista was the only Suzuki rider out on track at the Australian MotoGP as Loris Capirossi was forced to pull out with injury.

Álvaro Bautista:
“I knew that today would be a difficult race and I would really have to ride at my maximum to get anything from it. I got a good start and felt good into the first corner, I was able to overtake other riders but I didn’t really have a good enough rhythm straight away and lost some positions and time. At the end of the race I was in a great battle with de Puniet and Kallio and we fought hard with each other in the last laps. On the last lap I passed de Puniet on the outside of turn seven and I got into 10th. On the last corner I tried to close the inside line so they couldn’t get past me and as I was about 40 metres from the finish line I felt the bike lose a bit of power and speed and I lost two places. I don’t know if the bike had a problem or not, but today I felt like I finished 10th, but the bike was 12th! It is not a good result compared to the last races, but here we knew that it would be a difficult weekend. I would liked to have finished in the top 10 because that result for Suzuki here would have been a very good one, but at the end – because of the bike – I could not finish there. We now have to work very hard in the next two races and I can’t wait to get to Portugal and get riding again to forget the result here.”

Tom O’Kane – Crew Chief Álvaro Bautista:
“In my opinion Álvaro rode to a top-10 finish today at a racetrack that we really struggle at. The fact that he got passed on the line wasn’t his fault and he’s done an incredible job over the weekend – in really difficult circumstances and conditions. I think my opinion of him has gone up more this weekend than it did after his fifth place in Malaysia and I’m sure he’ll bounce right back from today and be pushing hard when we get to Portugal.”

Loris Capirossi:
“I am so disappointed that I have had to withdraw from the race, I did not want to, but the doctors said that the strain would have made it difficult for me to hang on to the bike and control it for the whole race, so they had to declare me unfit. It was been quite a miserable three races for me and now I need to get back home and make sure I am as fit as possible for the last two races. I still have a lot to do this season and I want to end the year as competitive as possible.”

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