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Alvaro Bautista look to repeat last year's victory at Assen

In MotoGP

23 giugno 2009

Alvaro Bautista look to repeat last year''s victory at Assen

The most legendary date on the MotoGP World Championship calendar is fast approaching, with the Dutch TT at Assen set to take place on its traditional final Saturday of June. 'The Cathedral' is the only venue to have played host to a round of the championship every year since its conception in 1949 and with the smaller category riders not racing at Laguna Seca, this is the final race before a short and well-earned three-week holiday. In the last round at Montmeló Álvaro Bautista became the first 250cc rider to make it two wins for the season and the Spaniard is keen to extend his advantage at the top of the championship standings this weekend.

Leadership of the series gave Bautista the confidence to dominate with an iron fist at Montmeló, where victory opened his advantage over nearest rival Hiroshi Aoyama to twelve points, with the gap increasing still further to the men behind. Álvaro took a sensational victory from pole position in wet conditions at Assen last year and he is confident that experience can help him to be amongst the pacesetters once again this weekend. On the other side of the Mapfre box, team-mate Mike Di Meglio will be boosted by two days of testing in Valencia last week, which gave the Frenchman the opportunity to gather more set-up data for the RSA. Mike is hoping that the extra information can help him make the step up to the lead group this Saturday, when his target will be to finish the race and pick up as many points as possible.

Álvaro Bautista: "I think we're strong right now and we go to Holland with plenty of confidence and motivation after the victory in Barcelona. Assen is a circuit I really like, with a mixture of fast and twisty sections, and in general it's a nice place. Last year we won from pole and we have good references, so hopefully the weather can be on our side like it was at the last round so that we can set the pace again. Our objective will be to work hard from Friday and find the best set-up possible so that we have every chance of fighting for the win on Saturday. Being the series leader is a source of great motivation but you have to remember that there is still a long way to go in the championship and it is important we stay consistent. If I have a chance to go for the win I won't think twice about it, but if it's not on then I'll take as many points as I can."

Mike Di Meglio: "Assen is a wonderful circuit and I like it a lot, so I hope I can perform well there. Last year things didn't go well for me in the race because I had some problems with my bike but hopefully in this new category and with this new team we can work well for this race. The idea is to continue to learn and make progress but I would really like to cap it off with a good race. Over the past couple of rounds we've done well in practice but for one reason or another we haven't been able to finish the job off on a Sunday. From now on I'll be taking extra care not to crash because we've thrown away too many points already."